Is Betting Legal in India? Online Gaming Act 2025

Last updated: 31 October 2026

Timeline at a glance: Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act on 20–21 August 2025 and it received assent on 22 August 2025 → the Act stayed un-notified for months while challenges were heard → on 22 April 2026 the government notified the Act and the 2026 Rules → both took effect on 1 May 2026 → the Supreme Court challenge is still pending, with no stay reported.

India used to be the market every growth deck mentioned: hundreds of millions of cricket fans, cheap mobile data, a domestic fantasy and rummy industry worth billions, and a stream of offshore sportsbooks taking rupee deposits. Most pages still describe it as a “legal grey area”. That changed in August 2025, when Parliament passed a federal ban, and the ban became enforceable law on 1 May 2026 (banks and payment providers had already started withdrawing earlier). If you are an operator, supplier or affiliate with Indian traffic, the question is no longer whether betting is legal, but how far the federal ban reaches and what, if anything, is still open to you.

This guide covers the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 and the 2026 Rules, the court challenges, the old Public Gambling Act 1867 and the state laws (Goa, Sikkim, Nagaland, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and others), GST, and how India now enforces against offshore brands, payment providers and promoters.

The short answer: online betting is illegal in India. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 bans offering, advertising and processing payments for any online game played for money, whether it is based on skill, chance or both, and it applies to operators based outside India. Offline, betting is illegal in most states, with narrow exceptions set by state law: licensed casinos in Goa, Sikkim and Daman, state lotteries, and horse race betting through licensed race clubs. The federal Act does not punish players, but it punishes operators, advertisers and anyone who facilitates payments with up to 3 years in prison and fines of up to ₹1 crore.

What the Online Gaming Act 2025 says

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (Act No. 32 of 2025, often shortened to PROGA or the PROG Act) was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha on 20 August 2025, passed by the Rajya Sabha on 21 August and received Presidential assent on 22 August 2025. The official text published by MeitY sorts online games into three groups:

• Online money games (banned): any online game a user plays by paying fees or depositing money or “other stakes” in the expectation of winning money or other enrichment, “irrespective of whether such game is based on skill, chance, or both”. Other stakes include credits, coins, tokens and virtual objects that are equivalent to or convertible into money.
• E-sports (allowed and promoted): organised competitive games recognised under the National Sports Governance Act 2025. Registration fees and prize money are allowed; bets and stakes are not.
• Online social games (allowed): games played for entertainment, recreation or skill development with no staking. Subscription or one-time access fees are allowed.

The core prohibitions and penalties:

Four other provisions matter as much as the penalty table:

• Offshore reach (section 1(2)). The Act applies to online money gaming services offered within India “or operated from outside the territory of India”. A Curaçao, Malta or Anjouan licence does not take you outside it.
• Arrests (section 10). Offering and payment offences are cognisable and non-bailable, and authorised officers can search and arrest without a warrant.
• Directors (section 11). Where a company commits an offence, the people in charge of the business can be prosecuted, unless they show it happened without their knowledge or they used all due diligence. Independent and non-executive directors not involved in decisions are excluded.
• Blocking (section 14). The government can block public access to any information relating to an online money gaming service that breaches sections 5, 6 or 7.

Is playing online betting illegal in India?

Playing is not an offence under the federal Act. Its penalties are aimed at the people who offer, promote and pay for online money games, not at users. That does not make playing lawful. The games themselves are prohibited, Indian banks and payment providers are barred from processing the money, and state gambling laws still apply to players: under the Public Gambling Act 1867, for example, being found in a common gaming house is punishable. For an operator, the practical point is that “players are not prosecuted” is not a defence for you.

What are the new rules for online gaming in India in 2026?

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules 2026 were notified on 22 April 2026 and came into force on 1 May 2026. According to the government’s PIB explainer of 30 April 2026, they:

• Set up the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) as an attached office of MeitY in Delhi, run as a digital office. It is chaired by an Additional Secretary of MeitY, with Joint Secretary-level members from Home Affairs, Finance (Financial Services), Information and Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Law and Justice.
• Give OGAI the list. It maintains and publishes the list of online money games, inquires into complaints, issues directions and codes of practice, and coordinates with financial institutions and law enforcement.
• Create a classification test. Whether a game is an online money game is decided on objective factors: payment of stakes, expectation of monetary winnings, the revenue model and whether in-game assets can be monetised outside the game. Determinations should be made within 90 days where practicable, and can start with the Authority, a provider’s application or a government notification.
• Register e-sports and some social games. All games offered as e-sports, and any social game category the government notifies, need registration. Certificates are digital and valid for up to 10 years. Applicants describe safeguards such as age verification, parental controls and time limits.
• Add grievance appeals. Users complain to the provider first, can appeal to OGAI within 30 days, and then to the Secretary of MeitY as Appellate Authority.

When did the Act itself take effect? Not in 2025. After assent in August 2025 the Act stayed un-notified for months: Storyboard18 reported on 20 January 2026 that it still had not been brought into force. On 22 April 2026 MeitY notified the Act’s enforcement together with the Rules, as SCC Online reported, and both took effect on 1 May 2026. Since that date the prohibitions, the penalties and the regulator are all enforceable.

Is the Online Gaming Act being challenged in court?

Yes. Real-money gaming companies challenged the Act in the Karnataka, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, including Head Digital Works (the parent of the rummy platform A23), Bagheera Carrom and Clubboom 11 Sports and Entertainment. On 8 September 2025 the Supreme Court consolidated all the challenges before itself, as Supreme Court Observer reported. The challenge is pending before a three-judge bench; Supreme Court Observer’s case page lists a further hearing on 5 August 2026, and we found no report of any stay of the Act as of 31 October 2026.

Two 2026 Supreme Court judgments make a successful challenge harder:

• State of Tamil Nadu v Junglee Games (27 May 2026). The Court upheld the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka laws that criminalise online games played for stakes, set aside the High Court rulings that had struck them down, and said, as Bar & Bench reported, that “there is no fundamental right to engage in betting and gambling”. Games of skill played for stakes can still be gambling. Review petitions against the ruling were dismissed on 15 October 2026, MediaNama reported.
• DGGI v Gameskraft Technologies (reported 27 May 2026). The Court upheld GST at 28% on the full value staked in online games, holding that skill or chance is irrelevant once participation depends on staking money, Business Today reported.

What is still open is the federal question: whether Parliament can legislate on gambling, which the Constitution puts on the State List (Entry 34 of List II). That is the argument the industry has left. Until the Supreme Court rules on it, plan on the ban staying.

What was the law before 2025? The Public Gambling Act 1867 and state laws

Before the 2025 Act there was no national law on online gambling. “Betting and gambling” is a state subject, so each state either adopted the colonial-era Public Gambling Act 1867 or passed its own law. The 1867 Act punishes running a common gaming house with a fine of up to ₹200 or up to three months in prison, and being found in one with a fine of up to ₹100 or up to one month. It says nothing about the internet, which is why so many pages called online betting a grey area.

The other pillar was the “skill versus chance” test. Supreme Court rulings from the 1950s and 1960s, including R.M.D. Chamarbaugwala (1957) and K. Satyanarayana (1968, rummy), treated games of mere skill as outside gambling laws. That test is what let fantasy sports, online rummy and poker grow into a large licensed-looking industry. The 2025 Act removes it for online play: a skill game played for stakes is an online money game.

State-by-state: Goa, Sikkim, Nagaland, Telangana, Tamil Nadu

The upshot for operators is that state laws decide what is allowed offline, and the federal Act now decides what is allowed online, everywhere.

Which forms of gambling are legal in India?

Is sports betting legal in India?

No. Betting on cricket, football or any other sport is illegal online across India under the 2025 Act, and illegal offline in most states under their gambling laws. The only regulated wagering on sport is horse racing through licensed race clubs. Proposals to legalise and tax sports betting, such as the Law Commission’s 2018 report, were never enacted.

Is online casino legal in India?

No. Online casino games for money are online money games under the Act, whether they are slots, live roulette or poker. The legal casinos in Goa, Daman and Sikkim are land-based only, and their state permissions do not extend to offering games online.

Is Dream11 illegal in India?

Dream11 is not illegal, but its paid contests are. After Parliament passed the bill, Dream11 posted that “cash games and contests have been discontinued”, and it pulled out of its sponsorship deal with the BCCI. Its chief executive, Harsh Jain, told reporters he expected a 95% fall in revenue (The Week) and warned that “whenever something is banned, the black market usually grows”. Dream11 has since moved to free-to-play and social formats. Fantasy sports were held to be games of skill by the courts in the past (for example the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2017, with the Supreme Court declining to interfere in 2019), but that no longer helps once money is staked.

Can we play online games now in India?

Yes, as long as no money is staked for a chance of winning money. E-sports with entry fees and prize money, free games, and subscription games are legal. Anything where a user deposits money or convertible coins to win more is banned.

Is 1xBet, Stake or bet365 legal in India?

No. No offshore sportsbook or casino holds an Indian licence, because there is no Indian licence to hold, and the Act applies to services operated from outside India. That covers 1xBet, Stake.com, Parimatch, bet365 and every other offshore brand marketing to Indian users. Our profile of who owns bet365 reaches the same conclusion for bet365, and our guide to who owns Stake shows who sits behind that brand. For affiliates, promoting any of them to Indian users is itself an advertising offence under section 6.

How India enforces against offshore operators, payments and promoters

India cannot easily prosecute a Curaçao company, so it squeezes every point of contact in India instead:

• Site and app blocking. MeitY issued blocking orders against 22 illegal betting apps and websites, including Mahadev Book, on 5 November 2023 under section 69A of the IT Act, following Enforcement Directorate investigations. Blocking has scaled up since the ban: in January 2026 the government blocked another 242 betting and gambling website links, taking the total blocked in this category to about 7,800 as of January 2026, according to Drishti IAS. Operators switch URLs, so the list keeps growing.
• Money laundering cases. The Enforcement Directorate uses the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against betting syndicates. In the Mahadev Book case the ED ran raids in Chhattisgarh and the promoters were arrested under the PMLA.
• Payments. Section 7 makes banks, payment gateways and anyone else facilitating transactions liable, with the same penalty as operators. Reporting describes operators moving money through mule accounts to get around this, which is exactly what drives ED cases.
• Advertisers and influencers. Section 6 covers any person who makes or causes an advertisement in any media, so celebrity endorsers, influencers and affiliate sites are all in scope, and a repeat offence carries mandatory jail.

What are the 22 betting apps banned in India?

The government has not published the full list. The November 2023 order named Mahadev Book Online and Reddyannaprestopro; the other 20 names were not released. That order is now a small part of the picture, with thousands of betting and gambling sites blocked since.

GST and tax on betting in India

GST is still relevant because land-based casinos, horse racing and lotteries are legal, and because past liabilities of online operators are being enforced. Online gaming, casinos and horse racing were taxed at 28% from 2023, charged on the full amount staked rather than on gross gaming revenue. In the Gameskraft ruling reported on 27 May 2026, the Supreme Court upheld that 28% levy on full stakes for the earlier period, which leaves former real-money operators exposed to large historical tax demands.

The rate has since gone up. The GST Council’s September 2025 overhaul created a 40% “de-merit” rate, with service rate changes taking effect on 22 September 2025, and tax advisers now put the rate on specified online money gaming and casino supplies at 40%. If you are pricing a casino, racing or lottery operation in India, confirm the current rate and valuation rules with a GST adviser before you model it.

India market entry: what is open to you

This is the part the ranking pages skip, because most of them are written for players. Here is the position by business type as of October 2026.

Two consequences follow. First, India is now a geo-block market for every real-money brand, just as Japan is, and a stricter one than the UAE, which has a federal gaming regulator and a licensed national lottery. Second, the Indian opportunity for foreign firms has shifted to B2B work outside money gaming: e-sports, social and casual games, and supply to the land-based casinos.

Common mistakes about India

• Calling it a grey area. Several pages in today’s results still do, and one even says there is “no legal risk”. That was arguable before August 2025. It is wrong now.
• Relying on the skill exemption. The Act bans online money games “irrespective of whether such game is based on skill, chance, or both”, and the Supreme Court’s 2026 rulings point the same way.
• Treating an offshore licence as cover. Section 1(2) applies the Act to services operated from outside India.
• Assuming Sikkim or Nagaland licences open India. They are state regimes, and the federal ban on online money games applies nationwide.
• Ignoring your managers’ exposure. Section 11 lets prosecutors pursue the people in charge of the business, and the main offences are non-bailable.
• Quoting 28% GST as the current rate. 28% was upheld for past periods; advisers now apply 40% to online money gaming and casino supplies.

What this means for you

If you are an operator, put India on your blocked list: geo-block, remove rupee payment methods and Indian-language acquisition, and audit affiliate traffic for Indian users. Our analysis of whether offshore betting is legal explains the “licensed abroad, illegal locally” problem (its India row uses the same penalties), and our guide to what a gambling licence costs covers markets that do license online play. If you are a supplier, check every Indian-facing client contract against section 5’s “aid” and “abet” wording, and get a written opinion before you supply anything played for stakes; our guide on when you need a gambling lawyer covers that decision. If you are an affiliate, remove real-money betting promotion aimed at India and keep any Indian content to e-sports, games and industry news. For where regulated revenue is actually growing, see our iGaming industry statistics.

For market-entry advice, compare iGaming law firms and licensing consultants in the directory.

This article is general information and analysis, first written as of 12 October 2026 and updated on 31 October 2026, not legal advice. It is based on the text of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 published by MeitY, the government’s April 2026 explainer on the Rules, and dated legal and news reporting. Indian gaming law is changing quickly and the Supreme Court challenge is pending; confirm your position with qualified Indian counsel before making market decisions.