For now, players can enjoy online Poker without fear of legal repercussions. However, this could change in the future as the government has shown signs of cracking down on online gambling. The simple answer is that it is not currently illegal to play online Poker in India. This leaves many people wondering if it is legal to play online Poker in India. There are no explicit laws banning the activity, but there are also no laws specifically regulating or legalizing it. Online Poker in India is a bit of a grey area.
One of the things they do distinguish between is something that does play a significant role in current gambling law, though, and that’s the distinction between games of skill and games of chance, with only the latter falling under the law.
The fact that this law is still in effect after almost 150 years tells us that this isn’t the most progressive country when it comes to gambling, and that is undoubtedly true. The Public Gambling Act of 1867, which applies to all of India, makes it a crime to either run a “public gaming house” or to even be present at one, and provides criminal penalties for both. India’s gambling laws are pretty restrictive, and in spite of this falling for the most part to individual states to decide, as is the case in the United States for instance, India still does have some central law on gambling that applies everywhere in the country.
