What’s The Deal With Sports Betting In India? Jay Satya Tells All

What’s the Deal with Sports Betting in India? Jay Sayta Tells All

The gambling and sports betting laws in India can be described in two words: complicated and ancient. Despite facing many pitfalls, the industry has continued to thrive in the country. While India still has a long way to go in terms of legalising sports betting, there have been countless individuals and organisations advocating for it. Just recently, the Sports Betting Community (SBC) Digital India conference and exhibition was held to open up discussions on the issues faced by the real money

gaming industry. Donna Amo spoke to Jay Sayta, a renowned lawyer and one of the fiercest advocators for regulated gambling, about the future of sports betting in India.

How did your journey advocating for the legalisation* of gambling begin?

While studying law in 201011, I was researching India’s gambling and betting laws and found out that the policy to ban gambling/betting is based on a British-era legislation, the Public Gambling Act, banning gambling in a ‘common gaming house.’ I realised that although the UK as well as many other countries across the world have changed their policy from banning gambling to making it a regulated activity, we have not done so in India. I feel it is important that we deliberate the same and move towards a regulated regime.

What are the challenges faced when trying to legalize sports betting in India?

The main challenge is managing the perception and cultural issues surrounding gambling and betting. Any kind of betting and gambling activity is viewed as immoral and pernicious.

Recently, the Prime Minister of Thailand announced that he was open to discussions regarding regulated gambling after the pandemic lockdown. Do you think the same could happen for India?

As of now, I don’t think there is any such proposal in India. Gambling and betting are state subjects so a lot of the policy changes will happen at the state level. Some of the smaller states may look at legalising gambling and betting, including casinos from the revenue augmentation point of view. For instance, Meghalaya is one state that has passed an ordinance for regulation of gaming, including online gambling and betting. Some of the other smaller states may follow suit.

What does 2021 look like for the future of sports betting in India?

I don’t think we are going to see any significant movement towards legislation or regulation, although industry bodies and other groups are discussing it at various levels, including with state and central governments. What we have seen in 2020 is that few states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have in fact gone ahead and banned online skill-based games like poker and rummy as well as online betting and gambling. The matters challenging the bans on online skillbased games like rummy are pending in various High Courts, and hopefully the courts will give positive verdicts in the matters.

What does an online conference and exhibition like SBC Digital India hope to achieve with regards to the overall RMG industry?

Events like SBC Digital India or SPiCE Goa are a useful forum for discussing local and international trends in the gaming industry and networking with peers in the industry from across the globe.

In case legalisation ever happens in India, what regulations would you recommend ensuring that we don’t face problems gambling and betting?

There has to be a comprehensive regulatory framework if we decide to go ahead with legalising gambling and betting. Rules would have to be framed for KYC, anti-money laundering, placing limits on deposits and bets, limits on advertising, prevention of underage gambling

and gambling on credit or loans, etc. There needs to be detailed deliberation on all these aspects with all stakeholders before coming up with guidelines and regulations.

Being a passionate advocate for the gambling industry, have you played any real money games like poker or fantasy sports, if so, what was your experience?

I do enjoy playing the occasional game of poker with friends, but I am not really a gamer.

What are your hobbies besides advocating for this industry?

I like reading and writing

ThE Main chaLLEnGE iS

ManaGinG ThE pERcEpTion and cuLTuRaL iSSuES SuRRoundinG

GaMbLinG b and ETTinG “

on various topics. Besides that, I like travelling, music, cricket and meeting new people. However, due to the lockdown for the last one year, I have been mostly watching movies or TV series on Netflix or reading some new book.

Even though laws governing the gambling and sports betting industry in India are nowhere close to the ones in countries like the USA or the United Kingdom, passionate advocates like Jay Sayta are working to bridge that gap. With clear laws and proper regulation, the gambling industry has a huge potential to take India’s economy to the next level.