Gambling Trips From India

Where Indians can gamble legally nearby: the main destinations

Casino gaming in India runs in Goa, Sikkim and the Union Territory of Daman⁶. If you have already done the Goa casinos and Sikkim casinos circuit, or you simply want a bigger, more international experience, the natural next step is a short-haul flight to a neighboring country.

The three destinations that make the most sense for an Indian traveller are:

Thailand, despite being one of the most-visited countries for Indians, has no legal casinos at all, so it is not a gambling destination. That section below explains what is happening there.

City of Dreams Sri Lanka: South Asia's first integrated resort

City of Dreams Sri Lanka is South Asia's first fully integrated resort, and it officially opened on August 1, 2025¹. It is the first integrated resort in Sri Lanka and in the wider South Asian region, which makes it a genuine first for Indian travellers: a Las Vegas or Macau style casino hotel complex without leaving the subcontinent².

The resort sits in Colombo, at No. 15 Justice Akbar Mawtha, Colombo 00200¹. That puts it in the heart of the capital's business district rather than at a beach resort, so it works as a city-break destination: fly in, stay at the resort, play, eat, and fly out, or combine it with a longer Sri Lanka holiday.

The operator is Melco, the same company behind City of Dreams in Macau and Manila, and it runs the resort's Nüwa hotel and the casino and entertainment areas to international standards and regulations⁸. For an Indian player used to offshore casinos in the Mandovi River, this is a step up in scale and polish: a purpose-built integrated resort rather than a converted boat.

The resort's website is cityofdreamssrilanka.com/en, and the phone number is +94 112 220 000¹.

City of Dreams: games, hotels and how a visit works

City of Dreams Sri Lanka has 800+ rooms across two hotels¹. The two landmark hotels are Cinnamon Life City of Dreams Sri Lanka, with 687 rooms, and Nüwa Sri Lanka, with 113 ultra-luxury rooms⁸. In practice, that means a wide range of price points: Cinnamon Life is the volume hotel for most guests, while Nüwa is the top-end property for players who want the luxury experience.

The casino and entertainment areas are operated by Melco and meet international standards and regulations⁸. If you have seen the Melco formula elsewhere, you know what to expect: a large gaming floor with table games and machines, surrounded by restaurants, bars, retail and entertainment, so non-gambling travel companions have plenty to do.

For poker players, the venue is already on the international circuit: the Royal Spade Poker Tour has confirmed a 2026 stop at the venue, running July 8 to July 13¹. That is worth knowing if you like tournament poker and want to plan a trip around a proper event rather than just cash games.

For comparison, the sister property in Manila shows the model: City of Dreams Manila features six hotel towers with three hotel brands, a family entertainment center, a bar with live nightly performances, gaming facilities, restaurants and bars, and multi-level parking⁹. The Macau original, in Cotai, features casino areas and four luxury hotels, retail, a wet stage performance theater and other entertainment venues¹⁰. Sri Lanka's version is newer and more compact, but built to the same idea: everything under one roof.

A first visit works like any integrated resort. Book a room at either hotel, Cinnamon Life City of Dreams Sri Lanka with 687 rooms or the ultra-luxury Nüwa Sri Lanka with 113, or just walk in from Colombo if you are staying elsewhere¹¹. Beyond the gaming floor, the resort offers retail and entertainment venues alongside its two hotels, so it works as a full weekend destination rather than just a casino trip¹¹.

Macau: the only place in China where casino gambling is legal

Macau is the only location in China offering legalized casino gaming³. Every major outlet says the same thing: it is the only place in the country where casino gambling is legal⁴. That single fact made Macau the biggest casino market in the world, because it is where mainland Chinese players, who cannot legally gamble anywhere else in their own country, go to play.

For Indian travellers, Macau is a different proposition. You are not going because it is the only option for a billion people; you are going because it has the densest concentration of large, polished casino resorts in Asia. The Cotai Strip alone stacks several integrated resorts side by side, including City of Dreams Macau with its casino areas, four luxury hotels, retail and a performance theater¹⁰.

A few practical points for a first trip:

• Getting there. Macau is a special administrative region of China, so you enter on its own border rules. Most Indian visitors fly into Hong Kong and take the ferry or bridge, or fly direct to Macau airport.
• Age. The law has long banned anyone under 18 from entering casinos, and the Macau government announced its intention to raise the minimum entry age from 18 to 21¹⁰. Carry photo ID: checks at the door are routine.
• What else is on. Macau's public gambling beyond casinos has shrunk: horse racing was abolished in April 2024, and all public gambling other than casinos has disappeared¹⁶. The resorts themselves have been pushed to invest heavily in non-gaming attractions, with big pledges on entertainment, retail and events as part of their license commitments¹³. So a Macau trip is now designed to work for non-gamblers too.
• A caution for the Chinese context. Chinese authorities have warned citizens against gambling overseas, and Macau is not looked on as an overseas market by China⁴. This does not affect Indian visitors, but it explains the market's swings: the COVID closedown took a billion-dollar toll on Macau casinos¹², and the recovery since has been driven by domestic Chinese demand.

The minimum age point matters most for younger travellers: if you are under 21, check the current rule before booking, because the announced direction of travel is upward¹⁰.

Philippines: casinos open to visitors, with a PAGCOR-licensed online market

Gambling is legal in the Philippines⁷. Both domestic citizens and international visitors may play, with relatively relaxed conditions⁵. For an Indian traveller, that makes the Philippines one of the easiest casino destinations in Asia: no ambiguity about whether foreigners are allowed in, which is a real question in some neighboring countries.

The main gaming hubs are Manila, where City of Dreams Manila operates its six-hotel-tower integrated resort with gaming facilities, restaurants, bars and live entertainment⁹, and Cebu and other regional resorts. Entertainment City in Manila Bay is the cluster of large integrated resorts, and it is where most visitors head.

The online side is run by PAGCOR, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp, the state regulator and operator. In 2023 the regulator bet on online casinos, moving to license and run its own online market⁷. Philippine residents can only legally join sites operated by PAGCOR¹⁸.

One thing that trips people up: the offshore gaming system. Licensed offshore gaming operators in the Philippines are set up to serve players in other countries, and the rules are explicit that no wagers may be accepted from Filipinos, from persons below 21 years of age, and from jurisdictions where such gambling is prohibited²⁰. Foreign nationals staying in the Philippines are not allowed to take part in offshore gaming, and Philippine-based players are not allowed to gamble on those platforms²¹. So if you are an Indian visitor in Manila, your legal play is on the land-based casino floor, not on an offshore site.

Philippines rules for players: age limits and tax on winnings

Two rules matter to visitors.

Age. The legal gambling age in the Philippines is 21 or older¹⁸. You will come across international sites that accept players from the country where the age limit is 18, but Filipinos must still respect their own country's age of 21¹⁸. The same 21 threshold appears in the offshore gaming rules, which bar wagers from persons below 21²⁰. For a visitor, the practical rule is simple: be 21 or over, with ID, or you will not get onto the floor.

Tax on winnings. Winnings below PHP 10,000 are taxed at a progressive rate, and winnings above PHP 10,000 are taxed at 20%¹⁹. The casino normally withholds this at the cage when you cash out a taxable win, so the number you receive is already net. If you hit a large jackpot, ask for the withholding statement, because you may need it for tax paperwork back home; see our page on tax on gambling winnings in India for how foreign winnings are treated on an Indian return.

Payments are modern: transactions with digital currencies are completely legal in the Philippines, and a large number of offshore online casinos accept Filipino players with Bitcoin¹⁸. For a visitor on the casino floor, cards and cash work as normal.

Thailand: casinos are illegal, but change is being studied

Thailand is the one big gap on the map for Indian travellers. Casinos are illegal there, full stop. The Gambling Act does not cover online gambling directly, but it bans nearly all wagering activities, and there are no online casinos approved or regulated by the Thai government²². Online gambling in Thailand has been classed as illegal gambling since well before the internet era, and the law has not caught up²³. Offshore sites are accessible in practice, but playing online in Thailand carries risk²².

Traditional Thai games like Pok Deng survive in underground settings, because gambling is largely illegal with only narrow exceptions²⁴. So while you will find card games in Thailand, you will not find them in a licensed venue.

The country also has no responsible domestic gambling system, no legal self-exclusion register and no national helpline for online gambling problems²⁵. That matters if you or a travel companion has a gambling problem: there is no local safety net the way there is in regulated markets.

The reason the section says change is being studied is that Thailand has repeatedly examined legalizing casinos and entertainment complexes, and the debate continues. Nothing is open yet, so for now, plan a Thailand trip for the beaches and the food, not the tables.

What Indian travellers should check before they go

Before you book a gambling trip abroad, run through this list.

Visa and entry. Sri Lanka, Macau (via China's SAR rules) and the Philippines all have workable visa arrangements for Indian passport holders, but check current requirements before you fly, since rules change.

Age and ID. The Philippines is 21-plus¹⁸. Macau has long been 18-plus with an announced intention to move to 21¹⁰. Carry your passport: every licensed floor checks ID at the door.

Money. Set a spending limit before you arrive and treat any money spent as entertainment expenditure rather than an expected return²⁶. This is the single best habit for a first casino trip, at home or abroad. Work out what a weekend of play is worth to you, take that amount in cash or on a card, and stop when it is gone.

Where you stand at home. India's own rules still apply to you when you return. Within India, the only legal forms of gambling are state-run lotteries in some states, horse racing, rummy, and casinos in two states²⁷. If you want to keep playing after the trip, stick to licensed venues to stay on the right side of the law²⁸. Our pages on gambling in India and gambling in India as a visitor cover the domestic picture.

Self-exclusion. There is no single universal self-exclusion register covering all Indian gambling or gaming platforms, so if you need to step back, you have to act at platform level and add your own device, banking and behavioural controls²⁹. That is worth knowing before a trip, not after: if you are worried about your play, set limits with the resort's responsible gaming desk while you are there.

Online play abroad. Do not assume the rules follow you. Philippine residents can only legally join PAGCOR sites, and foreign nationals staying in the Philippines cannot take part in offshore gaming¹⁸. Thailand has no legal online gambling at all²². The clean rule for an Indian abroad: play on the licensed casino floor, not on a website, unless you have checked the local position carefully.

Combine it with a holiday. The best gambling trips abroad from India are the ones where the casino is one part of the trip. Colombo gives you a capital city and Sri Lanka's coast within a couple of hours. Macau gives you Hong Kong next door. Manila gives you a full resort city. Plan the trip as a holiday with a casino in it, and the spending limit takes care of itself.