Casinos are legal in India only in a few specific places: the state of Goa, the union territory of Daman, and the state of Sikkim. Everywhere else, running or entering a casino is prohibited. The reason India has no single answer to the question of whether casinos are legal is constitutional. The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution places “betting and gambling” on the State List, so each state decides for itself whether to license casinos or ban them.1Ministry of External Affairs. The Constitution of India (Seventh Schedule) Only three jurisdictions have chosen to license them. A 2025 central law has also banned online money games nationwide, which changes the picture for anything resembling a virtual casino.
Where Casinos Are Legal
Goa and Daman
Goa is the country’s best-known casino destination. The Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act of 1976 authorizes the state government to license electronic gaming machines inside five-star hotels and table games on offshore vessels.2Indian Kanoon. The Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, 1976 Land-based casinos must sit within certified five-star properties. The offshore casinos operate on vessels anchored in the Mandovi River. The state caps the number of offshore vessels and sets license fees and operating conditions through notifications.
The same 1976 Act extends to Daman, though the casino footprint there is much smaller than Goa’s.
Sikkim
Sikkim is the other jurisdiction where you can legally play roulette, blackjack, or slot machines. The Sikkim Electronic Entertainment Games (Control and Tax) Act of 2002, later amended to explicitly cover “casinos and casino games,” permits licensed gaming inside designated five-star resorts.3India Code. The Sikkim Electronic Entertainment Games (Control and Tax) Act, 2002 The state levies a gaming tax on stakes, which the government fixes by notification, capped at 25 percent by the statute.
Why Casinos Are Illegal Almost Everywhere Else
Outside Goa, Daman, and Sikkim, gambling is governed either by the Public Gambling Act of 1867 or by a state law modeled on it. The 1867 Act, a colonial statute, targets the physical spaces where gambling happens rather than the games themselves. Running a “common gaming house” carries a fine of up to 200 rupees or imprisonment of up to three months. Being found inside one for the purpose of gaming can result in a 100-rupee fine or up to one month in jail.4Indian Kanoon. The Public Gambling Act, 1867 Those penalties have never been updated.
Because gambling is a state subject, the 1867 Act functions as a default only where states and union territories have not passed their own legislation. Most states have either adopted the 1867 Act wholesale or built their own prohibitions using similar language. The practical result is the same either way: traditional casino games like roulette, blackjack, and slot machines remain illegal in the vast majority of Indian states.
Age and Identification at the Door
The minimum age for casino entry depends on the jurisdiction. Goa restricts casino access to individuals aged 21 and older and requires patrons to carry age-verification documents. In Sikkim, the threshold is 18, consistent with the general age of majority under Indian law.
Identification checks happen at the entrance rather than at the tables. If you’re under 21 in Goa, you won’t get past the door of the hotel casinos or the offshore vessels. Sikkim’s five-star resort casinos enforce the 18-year threshold similarly, though enforcement at the smaller Sikkim venues tends to be more personal and less formalized than at Goa’s larger operations.
Skill Games Are a Separate Legal Category
Not everything commonly associated with a casino is legally treated as gambling in India. The Supreme Court has held that games where skill predominates over chance are not gambling. In State of Bombay v. R.M.D. Chamarbaugwala (1957), the Court held that skill-predominant games fall outside gambling laws. The 1996 ruling in K.R. Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu refined this into what is now called the “preponderance of skill” test.
Indian courts have applied that test to place rummy and horse-race wagering in the skill category. Fantasy sports were treated the same way by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Varun Gumber v. Union Territory of Chandigarh, which found that success depends on knowledge of real-world athletes and statistical analysis. The Supreme Court declined to disturb that ruling. Poker’s classification is less settled, with no definitive Supreme Court ruling placing it in the skill category.
Nagaland has built a licensing regime on this distinction. Rather than allowing casinos, the state’s Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act of 2015 excludes games of skill from its definition of gambling and licenses operators offering listed skill games online.5Government of Nagaland. The Nagaland Prohibition of Gambling and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act, 2015 Licensed operators may not offer these games to players located in states that treat those activities as gambling.
Online Casinos and the 2025 Central Ban
If you are searching for an online equivalent to a casino, the law changed sharply in 2025. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 imposes a blanket ban on online money games, whether they involve skill, chance, or a combination.6Press Information Bureau. Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 Advertising and promoting such games is prohibited. Banks and payment systems are barred from processing related transactions. The law reaches platforms operating within India and offshore platforms that target Indian users.
The Act creates a national Online Gaming Authority that categorizes games, decides whether an activity is a money game, registers permissible non-money games, and handles grievances. E-sports have been carved out and recognized as a legitimate competitive sport, with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports developing separate tournament guidelines. Social and educational games without financial stakes can be registered by the central government.6Press Information Bureau. Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025
The constitutional validity of the central ban is a live question. Because gambling sits on the State List, industry groups and state governments have questioned Parliament’s authority to legislate here. Enforcement has not waited. The Enforcement Directorate has seized assets worth hundreds of crores from at least one gaming company under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, citing the new law as part of its basis for treating overseas gaming operations as prohibited. Until the Supreme Court weighs in, the ban stands as enforceable federal law.
Sikkim previously issued a small number of online gaming licenses under its 2008 Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, restricted to intranet terminals inside the state.7Government of Sikkim. Directorate of State Lotteries – Online Gaming The 2025 central ban may effectively supersede that framework for money games.
What You Pay If You Win
Legal gambling in India carries a heavy tax load from two directions. The GST Council in 2023 imposed a uniform 28 percent Goods and Services Tax on casinos, online gaming, and horse racing, calculated on the full face value of bets placed rather than on net winnings. The tax base is what you wager, not what you profit.
Separately, winnings from gambling, lotteries, card games, and similar activities are taxed as income at a flat 30 percent under Section 115BB of the Income Tax Act, with no deductions permitted against those winnings. Casino operators must deduct tax at source when paying out winnings above prescribed thresholds, so the tax comes off before you receive the money.
One further caution applies to anyone tempted to route play through foreign websites. Sending money to overseas gambling operators or holding gambling proceeds in foreign accounts can breach the Foreign Exchange Management Act, independent of whether the underlying game is legal where it is hosted. Recent enforcement actions on FEMA grounds have led to asset seizures running into hundreds of crores of rupees.