As of 2026, online betting and online casino gambling are illegal across India. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (with rules in force from 1 May 2026) bans all “online money games” nationwide, whether based on skill or chance, and it applies even to operators based outside India. Only recognised e-sports and non-money social games are permitted. There is no legal, licensed online casino or betting operator in India, and using offshore or crypto gambling sites carries real legal and financial risk.

India has just gone through the biggest shift in its gambling law in over 150 years. For most of that time the base statute was the colonial Public Gambling Act, 1867, and because “betting and gambling” sits on the State List of the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule, each state wrote its own rules. That created a patchwork: land-based casinos in Goa, Sikkim and Daman & Diu; state lotteries in around a dozen states; and real-money “games of skill” (rummy, poker, fantasy sports) operating under court rulings that distinguished skill from chance.

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 ended that distinction for online play. It received presidential assent on 22 August 2025, and the implementing rules came into force on 1 May 2026. The Act imposes a blanket prohibition on all online money games — defined as games where users pay a fee or stake expecting monetary returns — irrespective of whether the game is based on skill, chance, or both. Offering, advertising, or facilitating payments for such games is a criminal offence, carrying up to three years’ imprisonment and fines up to Rs 1 crore.

The regulator and licensing regime

Oversight sits with the newly created Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI), an attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Crucially, the OGAI does not license online casinos or betting — those are banned. Instead it registers and supervises the permitted categories: recognised e-sports and non-monetary online social games. There is no route to a legal online real-money gambling licence in India.

Licensed vs offshore operators

There is no such thing as a licensed online casino or sportsbook in India today. The land-based casinos in Goa (e.g. Deltin, Casino Pride) and Sikkim remain legal under their own state laws, but their online equivalents are illegal. Real-money fantasy leaders such as Dream11 shut their paid contests and pivoted to free-to-play formats after the ban took effect in August 2025.

That leaves a large offshore grey market of sites targeting Indian players. These are illegal to operate and to promote here. By 28 March 2026, India had blocked or actioned 8,376 betting and gambling URLs, with more than 4,800 taken down after the Act came into force. Offshore and crypto sites offer no consumer protection, no dispute recourse, and expose users to legal and financial risk.

Payment methods and crypto

Everyday Indian payments run on UPI, cards, net-banking and wallets — all now off-limits for money-game deposits, since payment facilitation is criminalised. Crypto is not legal tender in India, and crypto real-money gambling falls within the ban. Separately, crypto (Virtual Digital Asset) gains are taxed at a flat 30% under Section 115BBH plus 1% TDS under Section 194S, and in July 2026 the Reserve Bank of India recommended that the government prohibit private cryptocurrencies. In short: crypto gambling is illegal and high-risk.

Tax on winnings

ItemRule
Rate on net winningsFlat 30% (Section 115BBJ)
Deduction at sourceTDS under Section 194BA, no minimum threshold
Deductions / loss set-offNot allowed
Crypto (VDA) gains30% (Sec 115BBH) + 1% TDS (Sec 194S)

Note that a tax existing does not make an activity legal — winnings remain taxable, but offering online money games is now prohibited.

Safer gambling and help

If gambling is causing harm, free confidential help is available in India:

  • Vandrevala Foundation: 1860-2662-345 / 1800-2333-330 (24/7)
  • iCall (TISS): 9152987821 (free psychosocial counselling by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences)
  • NIMHANS Centre for Addiction Medicine, Bengaluru — a leading public facility for behavioural addiction.

18+. Gambling can be addictive. In India, online real-money gambling is illegal — please do not risk legal or financial harm.

Sources