Gambling Laws by State in India

How the rules work across India

India takes a two-layer approach to gambling. A central law from the colonial era, the Public Gambling Act 1867, bans gambling across the country, but each state can decide whether that ban applies in its territory, and can write its own rules on top⁵. That is why the answer to "is gambling legal in India?" is always "it depends on the state."

The practical result is a patchwork. Goa and Sikkim license casinos. Some states run lotteries. A handful of states have gone the other way and banned even games of skill played for money. And since 2025, a new national law, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, has banned online games played for real money everywhere in India, regardless of skill or chance⁶.

The other idea that runs through all of this is the split between "games of chance" and "games of skill." Games of chance are treated as gambling and are largely prohibited. Games of skill, which include horse racing, card games such as rummy and poker in most jurisdictions, and fantasy sports, are exempt from the gambling regime in most states⁷. Courts, not the law itself, decide which game falls into which box, and that is where most of the disputes of the last decade have come from.

What is legal, and where

Strip away the detail and the legal forms of gambling in India are few: state-run lotteries in some states, betting on horse racing, rummy card games, and casinos in just two states¹.

Lotteries. Lotteries are regulated by the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998, which gives each state government the power to make lotteries legal or illegal within its borders. They are legal in 12 states and 5 union territories and banned in 17 states¹. Kerala, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Sikkim are among the states that run them. If you want the details, see our pages on the India lottery and state lotteries such as Kerala State Lotteries.

Horse racing. Betting on horse races is treated as a game of skill by Indian courts, which is why it is allowed while other sports betting is not¹. The rules are narrow: wagering is allowed on the day of the race and in the enclosure where the race is run, with government sanction². The states that allow horse-race betting include Telangana, Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal². Racecourses such as the Royal Western India Turf Club in Mumbai and the Bangalore Turf Club are where most of this betting happens; see betting on horse races in India.

Rummy and other skill games. Rummy has been recognized as a game of skill by the courts, so playing it for money is legal in most of India. The exceptions are the states listed further down, which do not allow even skill games for money.

Casinos. Casinos are allowed only in Goa, Sikkim and the Union Territory of Daman⁸. Goa is the central hub of India's casino industry, attracting both domestic and international visitors⁹.

Sports betting. Apart from betting at the race track, sports betting is not legal in India. The one exception is Sikkim, which has issued licenses to private operators to offer sports betting, though the courts have never clearly settled whether sports betting is a game of skill or chance². Cricket betting remains banned even in Goa, Sikkim and Nagaland³.

The Public Gambling Act 1867 in brief

The Public Gambling Act 1867 is the foundation of Indian gambling law. It prohibits all forms of gambling and the keeping of common gaming houses, while making an exception for games of skill, especially horse-race betting⁷. Games of pure chance, such as Satta, are squarely illegal under it⁴.

The penalties for players are modest by modern standards: anyone found in a common gaming house is liable to a fine of up to INR 100, about USD 1, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month⁷. The same figure appears in the original research on Indian gambling: a fine of 100 rupees or prison for not more than a month¹. The penalties for running a gaming house are heavier.

Two things matter about this old law today. First, it says nothing about online games, because it was written long before the internet existed¹⁰. Second, states can overwrite it with their own rules, and most have adopted versions of it with local changes⁵. So the Act is really the default setting, and each state's own law is what actually governs you.

Goa: casinos on land and on the river

Goa is the state most people think of when they think of gambling in India, and for good reason. It is the central hub of India's casino industry, attracting both domestic and international visitors seeking a high-end gaming experience¹¹. Goa is one of the few places in India with licensed local casinos¹², and it is also unusual in that gambling is legal there for local residents, not just visitors¹³.

The split between the two types of venue is practical, not accidental. The onshore casinos operate inside five-star hotel premises¹³, and they are mostly slot-machine operations. Live gaming with dealers, where the stakes can go really high, is permitted only on the floating casinos¹⁴. So if you want table games with a live dealer, you head to the river; if you want slots, a hotel casino will do.

Delta Corp, the biggest name in the sector, holds three of the six offshore gaming licenses issued in Goa and also operates a land-based casino¹⁶. All of Goa's casinos are government-licensed venues¹⁷, and players need to visit those licensed venues to stay within the rules⁹. For a first visit, see our guide to Goa casinos.

One practical note: the casinos do close on occasion by government order. All casino licensees in Goa were ordered to stop operations on October 2, 2024, for example¹⁵. A national holiday like Gandhi Jayanti can shut the whole river down for a day, so it is worth checking before you travel.

Sikkim: two casinos and the only licensed sports betting

Sikkim is the other casino state, smaller than Goa but more experimental. It has two land-based casinos where you can play poker: Casino Sikkim and Casino Mahjong¹⁸. Casino gaming is legal there under a regulated framework, as in Goa⁹.

Where Sikkim stands apart is online gaming. The Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act 2008 allowed online casino games and sports betting through a licensing framework¹⁹, and the state has issued licenses to private operators to offer sports betting, the only state to do so². But the license has a catch: the licensing provision mandates that such games be played from within Sikkim, offered via intranet gaming terminals in gaming cafés within the state²⁰. In other words, a Sikkim license does not create national online gambling. Anyone placing a bet with the licensed operators from outside Sikkim would be breaking the law in their own state²¹.

Sikkim has also allowed regulated gaming and betting businesses generally²², and along with Meghalaya and Nagaland, it is one of only three states with its own independent statute regulating online gaming⁷. For visitors, the practical takeaway is simple: Sikkim's casinos are real, walk-in venues; see Sikkim casinos.

States that ban online poker and rummy

While most states follow the skill-versus-chance split, a group of states has banned online games for money even when they involve skill. The states whose gambling acts do not exempt games of skill are Assam, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana².

• Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have passed amendments to their gaming acts in recent years to criminalize online gambling²³. Both prohibit online real-money games altogether²⁴.
• Assam goes furthest of all: the Assam Game and Betting Act 1970 prohibits all forms of betting or wagering on any game or sport, except horse racing and lotteries, with no exemption for games of skill²⁰.
• Tamil Nadu passed a Gaming (Amendment) Act in 2021 that bans gaming by cards and dice, such as rummy and poker, in the form of betting or wagering in cyberspace, and prohibits electronic transfer of funds for online game bets and winnings². Its story is more complicated, though: the high court held that online rummy involves a high dominance of skill and cannot be considered gambling, so an earlier ban did not stick²⁵. The state then passed the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act in 2022, banning real-money games of chance online²⁶.
• Karnataka banned online games for stakes entirely, but such bans have sometimes been struck down in court; the Karnataka High Court quashed the law that criminalized fantasy sports in the state²⁷.
• Kerala banned online rummy played with stakes by government notification in 2021².
• Odisha, Gujarat and Maharashtra also have laws that ban gambling in general, extending to online platforms²³. The Gujarat Prevention of Gambling Act 1887 prohibits any game of chance and lotteries involving money²⁰.

Operators reflect this map: real-money gaming is blocked for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana residents, and Tamil Nadu and Kerala sit in a partial-ban category with changing rules²⁸. If you play rummy online, our page on online rummy in India covers the game itself.

Nagaland: skill games recognized

Nagaland took the opposite approach to its neighbors. Under the Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act, skill-based gaming, including poker, bridge, rummy and fantasy sports, has been given explicit legal recognition, and online betting is also valid under certain conditions³. The Act permits only games of skill such as poker and rummy²³.

A Nagaland license is interesting because of its reach: a licensee is allowed to offer games of skill across India, in states where such games are not classified as games of chance and where an exception for games of skill exists². That made Nagaland licenses valuable to operators for years, though the 2025 national ban on online money games has overtaken this framework.

The underlying principle that Nagaland built on is well established: courts have reaffirmed online skill-based games as a legitimate business activity protected as a fundamental right under the Constitution²⁹. Nagaland simply put that principle into statute first.

Fantasy sports: from state bans to a national one

Fantasy sports, led by cricket contests, grew into a huge industry in India on the argument that picking a team is a game of skill. The Supreme Court upheld in 2021 that online games of skill involving money, including fantasy sports, do not amount to betting or gambling²⁷.

But the state map was always uneven. In Assam, Odisha and Telangana you cannot play a game of skill for money at all, making premium fantasy sports illegal there³⁰. Operators still exclude residents of Assam, Odisha, Nagaland, Sikkim, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu from real-money play³¹.

Since the 2025 national law described earlier, the question is largely closed: fantasy sports, as online games played for money, fall under the national ban described next. Our page on fantasy sports in India covers how the contests themselves work.

Online real-money games: banned everywhere

The biggest change in Indian gambling law in a century arrived in 2025. The national law described earlier imposes a complete ban on all forms of online money games, whether based on chance, skill, or a mix of the two, along with their advertising, promotion and facilitation³². It defines online money games as games where users deposit funds with the expectation of winning, and bans them entirely¹⁹.

The law is unambiguous in its own text: no person shall offer, aid, abet, induce or otherwise engage in the offering of an online money game or online money gaming service, irrespective of whether the game is based on skill, chance, or both³³. Real-money games are explicitly banned under the Act³⁴, and the rules giving it effect were notified to take effect from May 1, 2026³⁵.

The ban covers poker, rummy and even fantasy sports¹⁰. E-sports are treated differently: competitive, multiplayer, skill-based e-sports are permitted subject to mandatory registration, prize money for performance is expressly allowed, but spectator betting is not permitted²⁶.

For players, the practical position is this: online casino play, online poker for money and online rummy for stakes are not a legal option anywhere in India now, whatever a site tells you. The earlier position, that online gambling was illegal under the Information Technology Act 2000, has been replaced by a much more direct prohibition⁴. Our page on online gambling in India explains what this means in practice.

Who this applies to

India's gambling rules apply to everyone physically in the state, whether citizen, foreign resident or visitor. There is no separate track for foreigners at the level of the law itself, though in practice Goa's casinos, which attract international visitors, are used to dealing with foreign passports at entry⁹.

A few points worth knowing:

• The state you are in, not your nationality, determines what is legal. A visitor in Goa can walk into a licensed casino; the same visitor in Maharashtra cannot, because Maharashtra's laws ban gambling in general²³.
• Sikkim's licensed online offering only works from within Sikkim, via terminals in the state²⁰. A license there does not follow you home.
• The national ban on online money games applies across India, to residents and visitors alike³³.

If you are visiting India and want the practical side, see gambling in India as a visitor.

Quick state guide

For the wider picture, start with gambling in India.