Should Online Betting Be Legal in India?

Although online betting is considered a crime, millions of Indians are placing bets online each day. How? Well, since this activity is still pretty new, the Gambling Act doesn't have any specific regulation and the government is powerless. Online bookies based in India cannot operate, but offshore companies are allowed to offer their services to Indians. India is one of the most sought out markets for online betting.

People who place bets online are formally breaking the law, but they never face any consequences. So, with that thought in mind, we wanted to give you an insight in this industry by letting you know which sport is the most betted and what is our stance on the legal status of online betting.

IPL Betting is Very Popular

Cricket is by far the most popular sport in India. Naturally, Indians place the highest number of bets on this sport. The IPL is our top contender as the most popular cricket league for placing bets. As the new season is set to start in September, online bookies have already opened shop for Indians who are looking to wager their money.

If you are looking to place a bet online, you must make sure that you choose the best online bookie. They offer various bonuses, promotions, and odds. Since we wanted to help you in that process, we found the best IPL betting 2020 bookies. The list contains all the information that you need.

Our Stance

We firmly believe that online betting should be made legal in India. We will even present you with a few arguments as to how their legalization will bring a positive change. First of all, online bookies will have to pay millions of dollars in taxes. That is a huge boost to the country's economy. Furthermore, thousands of people will be employed in this industry which means that the unemployment rate will be lowered significantly.

As we stated earlier, the lack of regulation makes people more than willing to place bets online. By legalizing them, the whole process will be under control and the flow of money will be used much better. Finally, since India is one of the most sought out markets for online bookies, many companies may transfer their HQs to India and boost the economy even more.

Online Gambling Is In a Similar Situation

We also wanted to mention that online casinos are in the same situation as online bookies. Although they are formally illegal, Indian players still find ways to access them. Our stance is the same with online gambling, but the process of legalizing them should be made with great care.

The reason as to why we think that the process of making them legal is because we witnessed a huge wave of controversy recently after Virat Kohli was involved in the promotion of gambling sites. A petition that states that Virat should be locked surfaced. We cannot help but think that this whole situation would’ve been avoided if these sites were regulated. And we are not the only ones who share this opinion.

Here’s a statement by Fredrik Brannlund, Co-Founder of ENV Media "It's understandable to see such a dramatic backlash towards these promoters of online gambling, however demonizing the industry as a whole is not the answer. People will always find a way to gamble and it is, therefore, of much more benefit for India as a whole to be consciously aware of this and start introducing regulations to the industry."