A Costly But Valuable Lesson in KINDS ONLINE GAMBLING

A bet can be placed in minutes. Anyone with a credit card can setup an offshore currency account with a gambling site, leaving them absolve to place bets on sports like Wimbledon, cricket, horse racing and Formula One, or join a virtual casino to play slot machines, roulette, blackjack, poker etc. Companies like Flutter and Betmart accept bets on anything from who is going to win the Nobel Prize to whether Madonna gets a divorce or not. Bets can range from a nickel to thousands and in accordance with whether you win or lose the total amount is automatically adjusted to your account. The final balance may then either be mailed for you or left for future bets.

The law associated with online gambling in India should be understood within the country’s socio-cultural context. First, gambling, but not absolutely prohibited in India, does not receive express encouragement by policy makers. The Indian organized gambling industry is estimated to be worth around US$8 billion. While stringent laws have checked the proliferation of casinos and high street gaming centres as in lots of other countries, barring hawaii of Goa, the lottery business remains the most post popular form of gambling.

Though gambling is not illegal, this is a highly controlled and regulated activity. Modern India is really a quasi-federal Constitutional democracy and the powers to legislate are distributed at the federal plus the state levels. Gambling features in List II of the Constitution of India, this implies that the state governments have the authority to enact laws to be able to regulate gambling in the respective states. Thus, there is absolutely no single law governing gambling in the entire country. Different states have different laws governing gambling in addition to the laws with an application across the country. Although some states have banned lotteries, other states allow state government lotteries marketed and distributed in other lottery playing and promoting states through private entities.

Regulation of gambling

The courts have defined gambling as ‘the payment of a price for to be able to win a prize’. The dominant element of skill or chance shall determine the type of the game. A casino game may be deemed to be gambling if the element of chance or luck predominates in deciding its outcome. Subsequently, Indian courts have held that betting on horse racing and a few card games aren’t gambling. The right to undertake the business of gambling and lotteries is not considered as a fundamental right protected by the Constitution of India. It may however be pointed out that the state government run lotteries make significant contributions to hawaii exchequer of several state governments and the Union government, and therefore there is a resistance to complete prohibition.

The following legislation is pertinent to gambling:

THE GENERAL PUBLIC Gaming Act, 1867

This Act provides punishment for public gambling and for keeping of a ‘common gaming house’. This Act also authorises hawaii governments to enact laws to regulate public gambling within their respective jurisdictions. The penal legislations in respective states have been amended in accordance with their policy on gambling. However, LAHANWD doesn’t have any direct effect on online gambling unless a wide interpretation is given to this is of common gaming house to be able to include virtual forums as well.

The Indian Contract Act, 1872 (ICA)

The ICA is a codified umbrella legislation that governs all commercial contracts in India. Under the ICA, a wagering contract may be the one which cannot be enforced. The Act lays down; ‘Agreements through wager are void, and no suit shall be brought for recovering anything purported to be won on any wager or entrusted to any person to abide by the result of any game or other uncertain event on which any wager is made’. Gambling, lottery and prize games have held to be wagering contracts and thus void and unenforceable. While a wagering contract isn’t illegal, it cannot be enforced in a court of law. Thus, the courts won’t entertain any reason behind action that arises out of a wagering contract.

Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998

This Act provides a framework for organizing lotteries in the united kingdom. Under this Act, hawaii governments have been authorized to market in addition to prohibit lotteries within their territorial jurisdiction. This Act also provides for the manner where the lotteries are to be conducted and prescribes punishment in the event of breach of its provision. Lotteries not authorized by the state have been made an offence under the Indian Penal Code. Several non-lottery playing states, like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, have prohibited the sale of other state-government lotteries under this Act.

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 294A handles keeping lottery office. It says that whoever keeps any office or place for the intended purpose of drawing any lottery not being a State lottery or a lottery authorised by hawaii Government, will be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to half a year, or with fine, or with both.

And whoever publishes any proposal to pay any sum, or to deliver any goods, or even to do or forbear doing anything for the benefit of anybody, on any event or contingency relative or applicable to the drawing of any ticket, lot, number or figure in any such lottery, will be punished with fine which may extend to 1 thousand rupees.

Internet gambling

The law related to gambling is also applicable to online gambling. All gambling contracts are believed to be wagering contracts and it is extremely hard to enforce such contracts under the ICA, detailed above.