With an ever-increasing amount of the Indian population throughout large parts of rural India gaining access to the internet and the many wonders of entertainment, information and things to be found on it, many of these newcomers have discovered the thrills and joys of online gambling.
Majority of internet users located in rural areas of India
As of 2019, the number of Indian people living in rural parts of the country with access to the worldwide web surpassed the number of Indian people living in urban areas with internet access. With almost half a billion internet users spread throughout the many areas of the vast country, an estimated 227 million users located throughout the many rural areas now represent a slight majority of the daily internet usage in India.
The rise of 4G-based internet access
The introduction of 4G-based internet access has led to a huge leap in the ability for people in rural areas throughout the entire world to gain access to information and entertainment, this goes for rural areas in India as well. Amongst the main driving forces are the rise in popularity of online entertainment services and social media platforms such as TikTok, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram as well as online betting and gambling services.
These forms of pastime have quickly been adopted by the many internet newcomers in India, as they have been in the rest of the world during the rapid development of the Internet and the many services it provides in the past couple of decades. According to the international statistics giant Statista, more than 86% of urban internet users and more than 84% of rural internet users use 4G services as their main way of accessing the internet.
The loophole popularizing online casinos, betting activities and gambling in general
While gambling in all shapes and sizes in most states in India is considered illegal by law, with exception of only Goa, Daman, and Sikkim, no law or statute has ever been passed by the government regarding the legality of online betting and gambling activities. Goa is currently known by many as the Indian equivalent to Las Vegas or Macau, with as many as 10 Casinos spread around the region.
Goa is especially known for its many floating casinos, which can be found on boats anchored up by the banks of the Mandovi river flowing through the region. An online casino is seen by many gamblers and providers of gambling services alike, as a way to circumvent the strict gambling laws currently in place in most Indian states.
Whether laws and statutes dealing with this so-called loophole, which enables a rising number of Indians to partake in gambling and betting are in the making is currently unknown. However, in the current state of affairs, it would seem that many Indians, both in rural and urban areas of the country seem to take great pleasure in this relatively new avenue of entertainment.
Online gambling flourishes
Gambling has for a long time been and still is, on the rise in both rural and urban parts of India. To some, it might be a rather problematic addiction, whereas others might simply view gambling as fun and rewarding means of entertainment. Gambling has been around for centuries in most parts of the world and remains atop the list of popular ways to pass time for thrill-seekers.
While some government bodies most definitely view gambling as an alarming trend amongst members of society, gambling is to many people what playing sports or video games is to others: a simple, easy and accessible way to connect with and spend time with peers. As of recent years, several Indian media outlets have reported a rise in gambling trends across many of the nation’s regions, which quite easily explains the extreme growth in popularity among the many providers of online gambling, casino and betting services. This growth in popularity is unequivocally related to recent times advances in internet access.
Fills the gap
With the number of people able to take part in betting and gambling online increasing on a day-to-day basis, coupled with recent times numerous police-crackdowns on illegal gaming dens throughout both rural and urban parts of the country, the online casino phenomenon is almost certainly here to stay.
Online casinos and online betting and gambling have taken on the role of filling the gap between a growing part of the population with a desire to seek thrills through gambling and the sheer lack of possibility to do so locally and physically. Whether this eventually will lead to a governmental compromise through future changes to legislation or an outright ban on online gambling is difficult to say. But with an upward-trending market with a current growth rate of more than 20% annually expected to exceed 1 billion $ around 2021 it looks like online gambling in India is here to stay.
