If you are in India, playing an online real-money game is prohibited under central law, and so is promoting one. Nothing on this page is an invitation to do either — it is a description of where the line now sits. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 received Presidential assent on 22 August 2025 and came into force on 1 May 2026. Section 5 prohibits every online real-money game — the Act draws no distinction between games of skill and games of chance — and the prohibition extends to advertising such games and to the payment rails that fund them. On 27 May 2026 the Supreme Court upheld the state-level bans in State of Tamil Nadu v. Junglee Games India Pvt. Ltd., holding that staking money on an uncertain outcome amounts to betting even where the game involves skill, and so falls outside the protection of Article 19(1)(g).
What is still lawful
The Act targets online money games. It does not repeal the older, narrower permissions, and these remain in place:
| Activity | Position in 2026 |
|---|---|
| State lotteries | Lawful in the states that run or authorise them under the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998, including Kerala, Sikkim, Punjab, Goa, Maharashtra and the North-Eastern states. |
| Horse racing (on-course and authorised totalisator) | Long held by the Supreme Court to be a game of skill and permitted under state turf-club regulation. |
| Land-based casinos | Licensed only in Goa, Daman and Sikkim, under those states' own gaming Acts. |
| Free-to-play and e-sports | Explicitly outside the Act. The 2025 legislation promotes e-sports and social games; the prohibition attaches to the stake, not the game. |
| Online real-money casino, sportsbook, poker and fantasy | Prohibited nationwide since 1 May 2026. |
What the Act actually prohibits
The Act works by category rather than by operator. It defines an online money game as any online game played by paying a fee or staking money in the expectation of a monetary return, and then prohibits offering, aiding, abetting, inducing or advertising one. Three consequences follow that matter to a player:
- Skill is no longer a defence. The distinction Indian courts spent two decades building — rummy and fantasy sport as games of skill, and therefore outside the gambling statutes — does not survive Section 5 or the May 2026 judgment.
- Payments are cut, not just play. Banks and payment providers are barred from processing transactions for prohibited services, which is why UPI and card funding to these platforms stopped working before most players noticed the law had changed.
- Advertising is a separate offence. A platform does not have to accept your deposit to be caught; promoting one is prohibited in its own right.
How to check any of this yourself
Every claim above is published by the body that made it, and a reader should never take a gambling site's word for the law. The Act and its rules are on the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's site; the Supreme Court's judgments are published on its own portal; state lottery and turf-club permissions sit with the relevant state department. If a page tells you something is legal in India and cannot point you at one of those, treat the claim as marketing.
The 28% GST question
Separately from the ban, online money gaming was moved to 28% GST on the full face value of deposits rather than on operator revenue, and the Supreme Court upheld that treatment. It matters here for one reason: it explains why several operators withdrew from India before the Act took effect, and why a platform that still solicits Indian deposits is doing so outside both the gaming and the tax regime.
Where this leaves the rankings on this site
CasinoTrust scores platforms globally against one published protocol, and those scores do not change at a border. What changes is whether acting on them is lawful where you are. In India, as of this edition, it is not for online real-money play. We have kept the reviews visible and stated the legal position on each of them rather than quietly hiding the category, because a reader searching for these platforms deserves to find the law attached to the answer.
Frequently asked questions
Is online casino legal in India in 2026?
No. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 prohibited all online real-money games from 1 May 2026, and the Supreme Court upheld the state-level bans on 27 May 2026. The prohibition covers casino, sportsbook, poker and real-money fantasy alike, and it does not matter whether the game is one of skill.
Does the ban apply to players or only to operators?
The Act's offences are aimed at offering, aiding, abetting, inducing and advertising online money games, and at the banks and payment providers that fund them. State gambling statutes, which the Supreme Court upheld, do reach players in several states. Anyone weighing personal exposure should take advice from an Indian lawyer rather than from a gambling site.
Are state lotteries and horse racing still legal?
Yes. The Act targets online money games and leaves the older permissions intact. State lotteries remain lawful in the states that authorise them under the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998, and horse racing has long been treated by the Supreme Court as a game of skill regulated by state turf clubs.
Is fantasy sport still allowed?
Not for money. Real-money fantasy contests fall within the definition of an online money game and are prohibited. Free-to-play formats and e-sports are outside the Act — the 2025 legislation actively promotes them.
Why does this site still review casinos if they are banned here?
Because the reviews are global and the law is local. Removing the pages would not change what an Indian reader finds when they search for these platforms; it would only mean they find the marketing without the law. Every review in this edition carries the legal position.
Could the ban be reversed?
A constitutional challenge to the Act is pending before the Supreme Court, which will decide whether a blanket prohibition is compatible with Articles 14 and 19(1)(g). Until that is decided, the Act is in force. We will update this page when the position changes, and the date at the top shows when it was last checked.
Learn the games without staking anything
The academy and the calculators on this site involve no money at all — the rules, the house edge and the real odds of every game, free to read and lawful to use anywhere.