There is a certain ambiguity about the application of gambling statutes to the online space as the laws are more suited to act upon a physical gaming house and related instrumentalities. Today, betting has gone online, with neat interfaces, embedded payment systems, dashboards to calculate odds, alert notifications and mobile applications. That was almost 20 years back, and betting on any One-Day International match anywhere in the world ran into hundreds of crores, according to the report. The CBI’s report on ‘cricket match fixing and related malpractices’ talks of the emergence of betting syndicates and cartels, run on ground by bookies and punters, and hints at the involvement of the underworld. This amount exceeds the total amount India spends on agriculture, education and health by $10 billion or Rs 7.5 thousand crore. Despite these laws, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) estimates India’s illegal betting market at more than Rs 3,00,000 crore, which is about the size of India’s defence budget as of 2019.

The Public Gambling Act, 1867 and several local acts passed by the states make it a legally proscribed activity with punishments ranging from financial fines to years of imprisonment. A study by KPMG India in September 2019 pegs the Indian online gaming industry to be a Rs 250.3

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