Online Gambling in India

It is legal in India to play games like online blackjack, craps and roulette online. But what is gambling? The Indian Constitution, Article XIX, defines it as an activity that is prohibited. It does not mention anything specific about the rules for playing games like blackjack. However, according to one annual survey conducted by the Annenberg Adolescent Communication Institute, more than 400,000 male youths gamble for money every week and over 1.7 million people do so monthly.

The popularity of online gambling began in the late 1990s. By 1998, there were more than 200 online gambling sites. A Frost & Sullivan report showed that online gambling generated revenues of $830 million in 1998. In 1999, the first online poker rooms were launched. In the same year, the US Senate introduced the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, which would have prohibited online gambling for U.S. citizens. But in 2002, multiplayer games were introduced.

In the late 1990s, the popularity of online gambling skyrocketed. In 1996, there were fifteen such websites and more than 200 in 1997. In 1998, the first online poker room opened. The U.S. Department of Justice introduced the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, which would have banned the practice of online gambling for U.S. citizens. In 2000, multiplayer online gambling was also introduced. By 2003, there were over 700 sites.