The Legality Of Betting Apps In India: An Analysis Of Regulatory Gaps And Policy Challenges
- IJLLR Journal
- 17 hours ago
- 2 min read
Devansh Tiwari, LLM, APS University Rewa M.P., B.A.LL.B. (Hons.), DAVV Indore M.P.
ABSTRACT
This The objective of this paper is to examine the complex and legal aspect of online betting applications that are very active in Indian sub-continent. Gambling being considered morally and legally wrong in India still online betting application are thriving here, a little reason for that could be that they being governed by ancient gambling acts which have no significance in the modern era. Millions of users are getting attracted to these online gambling applications and as a result these applications are involved in generation of large economic activities.These applications continue to operate using the loopholes in law governing such activities thus resulting into questions like whether the Indian legal framework is up to the mark/well equipped in dealing with challenges placed by online betting/gambling applications.
The paper begins with analysing the fragile Indian legal framework, which provides a law of colonial times like Public Gambling Act 1867, a few inconsistent state laws, and unclear provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000, to deal with modernized online gambling/betting activities. Ther is no definite centralised legislation to deal with these applications and to keep a check on them, thus these applications exploit the grey areas of the law, especially by making themselves appear as a “game of skill” rather than a “a game of chance” a thin line of difference that separates one from the other.
This paper also evaluates the judgements that have made these applications legal in the country and helped them in getting a legal status. Landmark Judgements have legitimized these applications by placing them in the category of “skill based games” because of these kinds of judgements these applications get protection and get a proper defence mechanism for their future litigations. The paper also gives a glimpse on various reasons why the applications are still able to operate in country even after containing various problems and ill effect on society.
The digital betting industry contributes significantly to tax revenues, employment, and innovation, making it economically valuable. At the same time, jurisdictional challenges (such as foreign hosting and VPN use), combined with inconsistent state-level enforcement, make regulation difficult. Politically, there is often little incentive for governments to act decisively against these apps, especially when they are backed by powerful investors and cater to a large base of tech-savvy young users.
