Meghalaya plans to bring in casinos and online gambling and gaming for tourists, with top officials saying the state will admit only visitors to gaming and betting counters. Taxation Minister James PK Sangma said the state government has come up with the Gaming Act, under which the Gaming Rules 2021 will facilitate licensing of operators1. The report is dated 23 April 20221.
Sangma said the Gaming Rules 2021 will facilitate issuing of licenses to operators to conduct games of skill and chance both in online and offline version1. He told PTI that the venture has positive impacts not just in terms of GST revenues but also in terms of generating a lot of employment opportunities from the vibrant tourism industry1.
On who may take part, an official said the state will allow only tourists and visitors to participate in these gaming and betting counters after providing valid proofs of being travellers from other states or countries1. The report said the state government decreed that the rules will allow only tourists to play big in the casinos it hopes to attract1.
"the state will allow only tourists and visitors to participate in these gaming and betting counters after providing valid proofs of being travellers from other states or countries"
Meghalaya was one of the first states to legalize archery-based gambling, and the move comes some forty years after archery-based betting was first legalized there1. The Khasi Hills Archery Sport Association conducts the Shillong Teer, an archery-based lottery, with 12 archery clubs in the association; every day, 50 archers shoot 30 arrows each at 3:45 pm and 20 arrows in the second round at 4:45 pm, and bettors predict the last two digits of the total number of arrows that hit the target1. Bets can be placed at 1,500 legalized teer counters across the state1. A taxation department official said legal betting through Shillong Teer generated Rs 1.1 crore revenue during 2014-15 and nearly 2 crore in 2018-191.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Shillong Teer revenue, 2014-15 | Rs 1.1 crore1 |
| Shillong Teer revenue, 2018-19 | nearly Rs 2 crore1 |
| Legalised teer counters in the state | 1,5001 |
The report said Meghalaya will now become the third state in the northeast to legalize gambling, both online and off-line, after Sikkim and Nagaland, which have also allowed regulated gaming and betting businesses1. Discussions on making Shillong Teer more profitable and widely accepted globally have taken place since 2012-13, and the final push came when the Taxation Minister met representatives of the UK India Business Council and other business houses1. The UKIBC said in its report to the state government that the state is the most gaming-friendly state in India and concluded that lottery, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports would do well there1.
The rules drew opposition. The newly formed political outfit Voice of the People said most Meghalayans have always considered any form of gambling as a social evil, and protested the move to allow opening up of casinos and gaming bars1. Former legislator and VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said the aim of the state government to open casinos and make the state famous for its gambling cannot be accepted, adding that Meghalaya people have never accepted such games of chance, and instead suggested the state look at encouraging start-ups1.
What it means for players
Under the plan as reported, participation in the new casinos and online and offline gaming and betting counters is limited to tourists and visitors, who must show valid proof of being travellers from other states or countries1. That places Meghalaya alongside other Indian states with restricted or regulated gaming, a picture set out in Where Gambling Is Allowed in India, State by State and Can I Gamble in India?. For visitors, the practical question is what counts as valid proof of travel and how it is checked at the counter; the report does not say which documents qualify, and no licensing timetable, fee or operator list has been reported1. For residents of Meghalaya, the reported rules point to exclusion from the new counters, though the existing Shillong Teer archery betting remains in place at 1,500 counters1. The distinction between residents and visitors, and which law applies to each, is covered in Gambling in Asia for Expats and Visitors and Gambling Law for Visitors and Expats in Asia. Online access from India is a separate question from state licensing, covered in Can I Play at Online Casinos in India? and Is Online Gambling Legal in Asia?.
What happens next
The report gives no date for when licenses will be issued, when casinos will open or when the tourist-only checks will begin, and none of those steps has been reported1. It also does not say how the state will define a tourist or which authority will verify travel documents1.
