Authored By – Dev Gupta
Table of Contents
LAWS GOVERNING GAMBLING IN INDIA | BareLaw
“A BIRD IN HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH”
Humans, in their fragile, vile, fertile minds always tend to want something more. This can be the case with anything. It is, perhaps, one of the worst virtues of humanity – to never settle. When presented with something they tend to like, they will almost never give up on wanting more.
More often than not it is often combined with various other vices such as alcohol, drugs, cigarettes etc. That is why there is yet another saying that can govern what follows from here on- “THE DEVIL ATTRACTS” It quite literally means that whatever pulls you towards itself, and sort of places blinders on your eyes, is quite literally the devil.
The saying does not necessarily have weightage only when talking about bad habits or sins or whatever the term may be. It can also be said for something as simple as sugar – since it is scientifically proven that excess sugar causes diabetes!
This feeling, the feeling of wanting more, or trying to, often leads to people losing what they already held. One such Vice – Devil is gambling. Dangling on the ropes of possibility with no guarantee of what the outcome may be, call it luck, call it fixing, you just cannot decide what the outcome of gambling is going to be.
Lucky for us humans though, we ourselves have created our own protector, or should I say the enlightened ones of us have, The Law.
People far smarter than the major bunch identified the losses that people go through not just in terms of money but also in terms of surrounding factors, struck gambling with the red iron hammer and banned it – well at-least from majority of the countries / states / cities. But the case in India does not lie at either end of the spectrum some states have created laws which in turn easily create workarounds to carry on gambling, while some have stricter impositions.
TYPES OF GAMBLING:
Gambling means rolling on the dices and playing on chances in order to win more money than what was put into it. There are various kinds of undertaking or being a victim to the gambling addiction. They are:-
A) Poker
B) Betting
C) And this, only with the recent boom of internet usage has found it roots in mobile phones of people – Online betting / Fantasy Sports.
PUBLIC GAMBLING ACT, 1867:
A pre – independent, colonial era law this act banned the operation and owning of gambling houses. It is still in force in some states of the country with some of the states making their own set of amendments to it as well.
CASINOS:
Goa and Sikkim in their own set of laws have legalised gambling. The Goa Act allows the establishment and usage of casinos as machines of public amusements. In Goa, one will see many Little – Cruises offshores barely in the water. Their main purpose is to provide with the activity of casinos to whoever who wants to visit as per the Act.
Similarly, the Sikkim Casino Act read with Sikkim Casino Games Commencement (Control and Tax) Rules, 2007 permits the establishment of casinos at five star hotels. The casinos also have the option of having blackjack, roulette and other games at their tables.
POKER:
West Bengal via its West Bengal Gambling and Prize Competitions Act, 1957 has excluded Poker from the ambit of gambling. This however extends to the Texas Hold’Em and Omaha Hold’Em styles of poker only.
Similarly Nagaland has expressed its willingness in accepting poker as a game of skill. The Tamil Nadu Act established in April 2023 – Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022 (“TN Act”) to ban online gambling and real-money online games of chance in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The TN Act prohibits online gambling provisions. (which has been defined as online wagering or betting and includes playing of any online game of chance with money or other stakes). An online game is designated as a game of chance if it meets any of the four criteria listed for the latter or is included in the Schedule (as at present, real-money rummy and poker are in the Schedule).
The TN Act has also set up a Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority for implementing some of its provisions.
ONLINE FANTASY SPORTS:
Although in practicality, the style of “playing” it is the same as that of gambling, various High Courts of the country have upheld its existence as a game of skill and a legitimate business. Example of an Online sports app is Dream 11 which widely circulated and is being used today in India.
THE CONTRACT ACT, 1872:
As per Section 30 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, Agreements which are fixed on wagering are void and are completely unenforceable. Wager in its skeletal being, is extremely similar to gambling.
It basically means that the parties bet on a prediction and win or lose money based on that prediction, the said prediction, being for an event that can be deemed unpredictable, for example:- In an agreement between X and Y, X says that if Party A wins the Election, Y is to pay him Rs. 500 and if Party B wins the election, X is to pay Y Rs. 500.
CONCLUSION:
In-spite of all the evidences that prove a thing to be wrong for our well – being, people will want to do it anyway. Such is the case of gambling. It is widely known the side effects gambling activities procure yet those who do it do it regardless.
Even specially in the current day, after the advent of the Internet – Era, many mediums have been released into the market which trap the user into thinking that the activity being under taken is not gambling but in reality it is Gambling in disguise.
People throw in a lot of hard earned money with “mann me laddoo phoota – treats in their minds” at the thought of there being chances of doubling or even tripling it. What is the outcome then? They lose it all. Even more dangerous is the fact that it is dangerously addictive like nicotine, or in some cases, even more so than nicotine.
As per Section 30 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, agreements based on wagering are void and unenforceable. Wagering, which is essentially similar to gambling, involves betting on unpredictable events and winning or losing money based on that prediction. For example, in an agreement between X and Y, X may bet that if Party A wins the Election, Y will pay him Rs. 500, and if Party B wins, X will pay Y Rs. 500.
Reference Texts- (For a deeper – detailed look)
https://iclg.com/practice-areas/gambling-laws-and-regulations/india
