Where Gambling Is Prohibited

Across most of India, the default legal position — inherited from the Public Gambling Act 1867 and carried forward in state-specific legislation — is a general prohibition on gambling.

This page lists a representative set of states covered elsewhere in this guide's Regulation Map Explorer that fall into the prohibited category, along with the general legislative basis for that status. It states the fact of prohibition without ranking, judging or commenting on the merits of any state's policy choice.

States with a general prohibition

Maharashtra regulates gambling under its own Prevention of Gambling Act, a state-specific instrument descended from the 1867 framework, maintaining a general prohibition on unlicensed gambling activity. Verify current text.

Karnataka has historically prohibited gambling under its own state gaming legislation, and has at times sought to extend restrictions to online formats covering both skill and chance games, a move that has faced legal challenges. Verify current text.

Tamil Nadu applies a strict, prohibition-oriented approach, including specific legislative attempts to restrict certain online skill-gaming formats. Court challenges to some of these measures have produced a legal picture that has shifted more than once. Verify current text.

Telangana maintains a broad prohibition under its state gaming law, historically extended to online formats as well as traditional in-person gambling. Verify current text.

West Bengal's gambling law traces directly to the 1867 Act framework as adapted for the state, applying a general default prohibition outside a small number of locally exempted traditional games. Verify current text.

Assam prohibits gambling activity under its state gaming law and has separately legislated on online formats, reflecting a broadly restrictive regional stance. Verify current text.

Kerala maintains a general prohibition and has been an active site of litigation and rule-making concerning the boundary between skill-based and chance-based online games. Verify current text.

Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, applies a general default prohibition consistent with the majority pattern that followed the 1867 Act's devolution of authority to the states. Verify current text.

Delhi (NCT) applies a general prohibition under its own public gambling legislation, administered separately from neighbouring states. Verify current text.

Why "prohibited" is the majority pattern

Prohibition, not permission, is the default outcome of India's regulatory history for a straightforward structural reason: the 1867 Act was itself a prohibition-first statute, and most states that inherited its framework did not subsequently carve out casino or broad skill-gaming exceptions the way Goa, Sikkim, Daman & Diu or Nagaland did. Absent a specific legislative departure, the inherited default remains in force, sometimes updated for modern circumstances and sometimes largely unchanged in structure since independence.

This should not be read as a comment on enforcement intensity, social attitudes, or the merits of any state's approach — only as a description of the formal legal position as generally understood, which this guide reports factually and encourages readers to verify before relying on it.