Rohan MathawanIt’s no secret that India is a nation that loves to gamble. Gambling activities in India can be traced since the ancient times and it never really ceased in the country despite how it’s still not yet legal. However, the Indian laws do not prohibit the locals from online gambling.
There is now law in the country that states how online casinos can’t offer their services to the locals of India. This is only applicable to offshore online casinos, of course, as local operations are still illegal in the country.
Many Indian players and punters are indeed flocking offshore casinos and sportsbooks to place their bets and play their favorite casino games. There are many possible reasons why the Indians enjoy gambling. Definitely, most are doing this for fun and to get easy money. For betting, on the other hand, is to show support to their favorite teams and athletes in different sports like cricket and field hockey.
India loves to play card games and so it makes sense why they enjoy many table games like poker, blackjack, and other games too like slots and the roulette. When it comes to sports betting, definitely, the majority of Indian punters would place bets on cricket games.
Cricket is simply a sport that the Indian locals are in love with. They watch it, they play it, and they wager on it. One of the biggest cricket tournaments in the world is the Indian Premier League that happens yearly. Whenever the IPL is on, many Indians would place their bets online and offshore operators are definitely benefitting from this.
The fact that local operations of casinos and sportsbooks are still illegal in India doesn’t really affect the industry. It’s still a good thing that online gambling is not really prohibited in the country as the offshore casinos are always to the rescue.
India is a significant contributor to the global gambling market. It’s still considered as a young industry compared to how other markets are doing in countries like the US, Canada, Europe, and China. It is estimated that the online gambling revenue in India is around 30 billion US dollars each year.
What really contributes to the growth of this industry is the growing population of mobile and internet users. The majority of the revenues that the global gambling market gain each year is coming from the online or mobile sector. It just makes sense that as India gets more mobile and internet users, it also becomes a bigger market for the gambling industry.
The growth of internet users in India is pretty rapid over the last 10 years. It has a registered growth of 18 percent each year. By the end of 2018, there were 566 million internet users in the country and this number is expected to grow up to 730 million by the end of this year, 2020.
It helps that the country is beginning to get a better internet connection. Smartphones are also becoming more available to the locals. It’s true that these days, smartphones are becoming cheaper and with today’s technology, even cheap handsets can be used on mobile gaming.
With all these, mobile gambling is surely the future of the gambling industry in India. This is where the global gambling industry appears to be heading anyway. It’s just really important that key players in the industry show their interest in India.
This is because this country is the second most populated place in the world. It is also estimated that the adult population here is three times bigger than the adult population in the US. It just really is a big market for gambling operators.
It’s possible that the country will be one of the biggest markets in the gambling industry in the future. For now, it’s already doing good despite the restrictions that the country has regarding gambling activities.
It’s still hard to tell whether the Indian government is going to legalize gambling operations in the country, but it may be likely. There’s no denying that there are illegal operators offering their services in the country and this should be something that the government notice.
The Indian locals are surely at risk with illegal gambling activities and there’s really no better way to fix this than to regulate the local gambling industry. With how much the Indians are already spending on online casino games and sports betting, India will surely gain a lot from legalizing these activities.