Gambling
in India is a complicated legal field as Indian
Constitution has conferred the power to make laws regarding gambling
to various states of India. While these states are free to make
gambling and gaming laws within the parameters of their respective
jurisdictions, they cannot encroach upon the territories of other
states in this regard.
When Internet and other technologies are used,
gambling and gamming assumes the character of online gambling and
gaming. This is clearly not allowed as per the constitutional scheme.
This is the reason that online
gambling in India is a subject for the central government
to manage. However, online
gambling legal issues in India are not easy to manage.
The issue of legality of online gaming in India is
pending
before the Supreme Court of India says Praveen Dalal, managing
partner of New Delhi based technology law firm Perry4Law.
However, the decision of Supreme Court in this regard may not bring a
relief to online gaming stakeholders at
large. The Supreme Court sought
the opinion of Central Government in this regard but the same was not
formally provided by the Central Government till now.
The problem with online poker and online rummy
websites of India is that a dominant majority of them are not at all
following the laws of India and are actually violating the same,
informs Dalal. They may be prosecuted very soon as allowing them to
operate in an illegal manner would be counterproductive in the long
run, opines Dalal.
There has been an increased numbers of arrests and
prosecutions of various individuals and companies in India in this
regard. For instance, recently the owner of an online betting website
for IPL 7 was arrested
in Mumbai for allowing betting on his website. Similar arrests have
been made by police of Delhi,
Ahmedabad,
Mumbai,
etc. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also established a
Sports
Integrity Unit to investigate illegal sports betting in
India.
According to Perry4Law, till the time Indian Supreme
Court or central government clarifies the legal position regarding
online gaming and gambling in India, the online gaming/gambling
stakeholders must comply with existing and applicable techno legal
requirements of Indian laws.
