Read this article to find out about Indian betting laws and what Indian bettors should do if they want to bet on cricket today.
When selecting online bookies with whom to recommend to Indian bettors, we follow some very strict criteria. We add and remove sites based on this criteria.
1. Accepts Indian Players: They must not have India on a “restricted country”, allowing us to open accounts without hassle and safety knowing they will pay us when we win, and fast.
2. Easy Depositing : If they do not accept credit cards or do not have a high acceptance rate for credit cards we look into making sure they accept ewallets of either Neteller or Skrill. Our comparison charts denotes which methods each site has available.
3. Trust and Security: We vet sites based on our knowledge of the industry, as well as referring to trusted advisory sites to verify the trustworthiness of a site. We also try to find sites that have a long established reputation in the industry, including serving other betting markets.
4. Betting Selection: We also look for sites that offer the best selection available for cricket, including IPL, horse racing, football (soccer) and other popular sports for Indian bettors.
5. Accepts INR: If possible, we try to find bookmakers that allow for deposits and withdraws in Indian Rupees (Rupees not always necessary). This is very important, but due to the limited selection of sites that fulfill the above criteria, you may find that some of the sites we feature here require deposits in other currencies such as Euro, USD, or GBP.
Rupee Online Bookmakers
The only trusted sports betting site that allow for Rupee deposits directly is www.bet365.com. This site offers Indians the ability to register with our home address, and then deposit, wager and withdrawal in Indian Rupee – INR. They are one of only a few betting sites to do so for India. Bet365 has been licensed in the UK since 1974 and is owned by the Coates family who also owns the EPL football club Stoke City. Their online website is available in 17 languages and 29 currencies, and with over 5 million customers and 1500 employees they are the UK’s 7th largest private company. They are an all inclusive betting site offering sports, casino and poker betting from account.
If you’re going to choose only one bookmaker, Bet365 might be the best choice. As you can learn about in our Bet365 review, they are one the few Indian friendly betting sites that offer sports betting bonuses.
While Bet365 is currently the ONLY TRUSTED sports betting site that accepts Indian rupees. There are others that advertise to Indian players but it is either very difficult to deposit/withdraw with them, or they have trust issues. We are constantly on the lookout for more trustworthy sites. Check back with us for updates.
How Can Indians Deposit and Withdrawal
I’ve written detailed articles about gambling deposits from India and gambling cash outs from India, which are very helpful to understanding how Indians can bet sports online. However, here is a quick recap of the three most popular methods.
Neteller : This is an e-wallet that allows for transactions with online betting sites in Indian rupees. They are highly reputable and regulated by the UK’s Financial Service Authority (FSA).
Skrill (Moneybookers): This is an e-wallet which can also be set up in rupees. You can link your home bank account as well as your credit card and debit card to it. This is one of the cheapest way to deposit and withdrawal money from online bookmakers.
EntroPay – This functions similar to an e-wallet but is unique in that the funds loaded to your account are also associated with a virtual debit card number. This makes it possible to shop online anywhere Visa is accepted , something not easy to do under new RBI policies. You can of course also use EntroPay to deposit and withdrawal at online sportsbooks.
The benefit to using the methods I just mentioned is you’re able to deposit and withdrawal anonymously. Neteller for example is famous in India and used by many website programmers, consultants, and freelance writers to take payment from their clients. Indian banks deal with them regularly for transactions that have nothing to do with gambling. While your bank might ask you for a purpose code when doing large deposits or withdrawals, ultimately there isn’t too much concern they will have an issue with these transactions. This is because the name of the gambling site never appears; all of your bank account deposits and withdrawals will read Neteller, Skrill, or Entropay, making these transactions much more private.
Is Sport Betting Legal?
Betting on sports is generally presumed a grey area, and several bookies have been arrested in India but not one case has been recorded against a citizen bettors. In fact states like Sikkim are now entering fully licensed gambling sites from Indian territory as of late. Interesting enough however, to the best of our knowledge there aren’t any actual laws on the books at the federal level that prohibit sportsbetting. According to gaming statistics, 40% of the India population that have a computer and internet visit online betting websites.
The Public Gambling Act which makes casino gambling illegal, specifically states it does not apply to skill wagering. Considering the Supreme Court has ruled horse race betting a skill and sports betting uses similar skills, this leaves sports wagering a gray area. Ultimately, even if sports betting was illegal under Central government regulations, the Constitution of India gives states the right to create their own laws and policies regarding gambling. One state (Sikkim) has already legalized certain sports to bet and is now issuing gambling licenses. For details, see our page on Sikkim Gambling Licenses or for the broader picture refer to our page on India Gambling Laws.
While you should always check with your own attorney and do research yourself, to the best of our knowledge no one has ever been arrested or fined, for wagering from the privacy of their own home using an internet connection. The gambling sites friendliest to Indians are licensed in the UK or Gibraltar, and fully legal under European and International law. It is highly unlikely if you use these sites and a private internet connection that you’ll run into any troubles with the law.
Click here to join Bet365 now. They offer an industry-leading matched deposit bonus and have markets for all cricket matches in India and Worldwide.