Gambling in India is a complex subject. Betting on horses is legal, betting on lotteries is legal (but only in some states), betting on rummy is legal (but is it online?), casino betting is legal in Goa and sports betting is legal in Sikkim.
And these are just the clear laws, there are a whole load more that are even more grey and complicated.
Here at India Bet we believe in following the letter of the law and therefore set out our position below.
Do you take bets?
No!
We are not a betting company. We do not lay bets. All the games on the site are free to play and only simulate betting. We will never ask you for money in any form.
So if you ever are offered a bet by another member of the site or by someone pretending to be us, please do let us know and we will report them. Do not accept the offer!
Here at India Bet we are completely free-to-play and unless there is a radical change in the laws things will be staying that way.
So then, how do you make money?
Well, we’re more interested in providing a service and building a brand around gaming than we are about making money. In fact, we think playing for free on our site is a much better thing to do than to partake in illegal gambling and that we provide a safe alternative to real money gaming.
However we do have to cover our costs and we do this by advertising on our website.
Who do you advertise?
We advertise a range of online products including betting websites. However, we only advertise properly licensed websites.
Gambling companies are regulated not just by the governments of the territories in which they are situated but also by the authorities under which they are licensed.
By advertising responsible gambling companies that are fully licensed we know that they will only allow players that can legally bet to play on their site. These companies have stringent KYC (Know Your Customer) checks and make sure that the players they take bets from are the correct age and have the correct eligibility to bet.
These companies have large teams of lawyers who decide what the conditions should be for a person to be allowed to bet. They must prove this to the authorities under which they are regulated and are regularly tested to make sure these standards are met.
We cannot and do not hold responsibility for what people do outside of our website but by advertising only properly regulated companies, this is a way in which we can make sure as far as possible that our product is responsible.
Where are you based?
India Bet is a UK company. Another reason why we couldn’t take a bet from you. Foreign Investment into gaming in India is blocked and so even if we wanted to, we couldn’t offer real money gambling.
India Bet is housed by the company Sports Gaming Ltd, who are a consultancy and domain business. They run a number of websites that focus around gaming and gambling whilst also providing consultancy services to the wider gaming industry.
Is there an age limit for India Bet?
Yes, whilst there is no law prohibiting anyone from playing free to play games, we do understand that some people may see our games as being “adult content”. We therefore impose an 18+ age limit on the site. Players must confirm their age when registering and if they are found to have provided false information, they will be blocked from the website.
What about real money betting, is that legal in India?
We are not legal experts, and there are differing views on this subject. Laws vary between state and federal legislation and it is worth checking your local laws before ever engaging in any real money gambling. We cannot provide further information beyond this. However, we do recommend the excellent gambling laws blog glaws.in which is run and regularly updated by the Indian gaming lawyer Jay Sayta.
