Betting Online in India: Legal Sportsbook Betting Sites in India
Gambling in India is centrally governed by the Public Gambling Act of 1867. Unsurprisingly, this ancient act does not apply to online gambling. Still, it does prohibit land-based casinos or sportsbooks from being owned, managed, or used in Indian states that adhere to it. States are free to enact their own legislation however, so online gambling is predominantly legal in India. For all Indian-based players, OddsGurus.in is a place where they’ll find the best betting websites available to the Indian market. We’ll highlight the valuable features of each website, such as the languages spoken or which Indian sports are covered, and we give excellent advice that helps our visitors to bet successfully. Let’s have a closer look at betting online in India!
Before Placing a Bet: What are Odds and How Do They Work?
Betting odds represent the probability of a particular event or sporting outcome occurring. These odds are offered by bookmakers or sportsbooks; establishments that will accept a customer’s bet on a specific result and pay out in proportion to the odds if the prediction comes true. The odds offered are known as the “price”. Let’s look at some examples of odds. In some countries (e.g., the UK and Ireland), betting odds are presented in fractions. For instance, 4/1 odds mean the gambler will receive four times the amount wagered if he or she wins the bet, plus the original wager. Although at first glance, these might look like 25% odds, both sides of the fraction must be added together to find the actual percentage. Thus, 4/1 odds mean a 1 in 5 chance or a 20% probability.
Decimal odds are used for sports betting in India and many other countries worldwide. So, players would see 5.00 odds advertised for the same 4/1 wager mentioned above. In a way, this is easier to understand because you don’t need to add the two sides of a fraction together to calculate winnings. A successful bet of 100 rupees at odds of 5.00 would receive 500 rupees, for instance, including the original stake. An “evens” (1/1 or 50%) bet in India would be written as 2.00, which includes the stake and the potential winnings. You’ll never find 1.00 decimal odds in India or anywhere because it means the result is 100% certain. Bets that are fractionally above 1.00 are close to a certainty, so they’ll pay out very little unless a huge stake is wagered and accepted.
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Popular Betting Bonuses You Will Often Find on Sportsbook Websites
Finding the best odds on a particular sporting event is part of a sports bettor’s routine. But sportsbooks don’t only rely on attractive odds to draw customers in. They also offer a variety of betting bonuses. What types of bonuses are players likely to find? Bonuses available from sportsbooks (aka bookmakers) include these:
- Cashback: Often used to keep regular customers incentivized. The sportsbook will give them back a percentage of their losses. This might be part of a VIP scheme or loyalty program.
- Deposit and No Deposit Bonuses: Like casinos, sportsbooks offer to match a percentage of a customer’s initial deposit(s), or they’ll offer a no deposit bonus. The former is more common. Most welcome bonuses or sign-up bonuses are relatively generous.
- Free Bets: Free bets might be offered to new customers at a sportsbook. They are likely to come with certain conditions attached, such as not being able to place bets with very low or short odds.
- Profit Boosters: Sportsbooks sometimes offer new players excellent prices (i.e., long odds) on outcomes that are likely to occur in order to attract custom. They also offer enhanced odds and greater potential profit to existing players.
- Risk-Free Bets: This is like a free bet, except players must fund the bet in the first place. They will then be refunded any loss up to a stated limit. The refund is likely to come in the form of credits or free bets.
Note that, like casinos and crypto casinos, some of the bonuses offered by sportsbooks come with wagering requirements. So, you’ll typically have to wager the value of the bonus a specified number of times before you can withdraw winnings from it.
Live Betting: What It Is and How to Get the Most From It
Live betting gives customers the chance to bet on a sports event while it is taking place. Thus, it’s possible to place bets on the result while taking new information into consideration. Obviously, the odds change all the time while a sports event unfolds, depending upon what happens. A bettor might want longer odds on a particular team winning a football match, for instance, which he or she will get if the opposing team scores first. To complement live betting, live streaming enables sports bettors to watch an event and bet on it from the same website. The cashout feature is also available at some sportsbooks. This allows customers to end their wager before an event has been completed, either to retain a profitable position that looks like it might change or to mitigate ongoing losses.
Some of the Most Popular Sports You Can Bet on in India
Like many people around the world, Indians love their sport, and they like to bet on the sports they love. Although there is no official national sport, the country has excelled in some sports at an international level. It is well known for its achievements in cricket and field hockey, and there are several internationally successful players in sports such as golf and squash. There are many sports that Indians enjoy and love to bet on, whether domestically or internationally. These are some of them:
- Badminton: In terms of participation, badminton is the second most popular sport in India.
- Cricket: Enjoys a huge following domestically and internationally.
- Field Hockey: Popular sport in which India has won eight Olympic gold medals.
- Kabbadi: Contact team sport that originated from ancient India.
- Football (soccer): The second most popular spectator sport in India.
- Motorsports: Increasingly popular with massive growth in followers of Formula One (F1).
- Tennis: Indian players have appeared in many top international tennis events, achieving some success in doubles tournaments.
- Wrestling: India established the Pro Wrestling League in 2015, which consists of six teams representing Indian cities.
Cricket Betting: Betting on India’s Most Popular and Watched Sport
Cricket is arguably the unofficial national sport of India, competing with field hockey for the honor. The Indian Premier League is a Twenty20 cricket league with eight participating teams representing eight Indian cities. There are many state teams in India playing domestic cricket, as well as India A and Team India at the international level. Among the things fans of cricket betting can bet on are the following:
- Match winner
- Most sixes
- Player and team totals
- Runs in opening over
- Runs in an innings
- Top batsman or bowler
Among the international events that Indian bettors can bet on are the ICC World Test Championship, Cricket World Cup, Champions Trophy, and the T20 World Cup.
Kabaddi Betting: Brief Introduction to the Game and Types of Bet
As many Indians know, Kabaddi is a massively popular contact team sport in which players (raiders) must invade the opposing side of a court while continuously chanting “kabaddi” and score points by tagging opponents before successfully making it back to their own half. In India, Kabaddi betting is one of the most popular forms of online odds. Among the bets you can make on a kabaddi match are these:
- Accumulators (e.g., betting on multiple teams to win)
- Handicap betting
- Number of successful raids
- Outright winner
- Top raider or tackler
- Total points scored
Live betting during a kabaddi match is a sought-after feature on Indian sportsbook websites. It adds tremendous excitement to an already dynamic game.
Bets on Indian Horse Racing and Examples of Different Betting Types
The Indian Supreme Court deemed horse racing to be based on skill rather than luck in 1996. This makes horse racing one of the most legitimate sports for Indians to bet on, regardless of where they are located. It’s possible to make legal bets at the Hyderabad Race Club in Telangana, for instance. There is an endless variety of bets that can be made with horse racing. Some of the more straightforward are these:
- Accumulator: Multi-race bet on horses to win or place
- Each-way bet: Combination of a win and a place bet
- Forecast: Bet on first and second-place finishers in the correct order
- Place bet: Bet on a horse to finish in the top three
- SHP: Bet on the horse to finish second in a second horse pool bet
- Quinella: Bet on first and second-place finishers in any order
- Win: Pick the winner
E-sports Betting (Including Electronic Sports, Dota 2, CS: GO, League of Legends, etc.)
E-sports (electronic sports) are big business in India, and it’s possible to place bets on them. Esports betting is constantly growing around the world. Although bettors can bet on games they are unfamiliar with, anyone who has taken the trouble to learn the game or e-sport is at a considerable advantage. In terms of bet volume, these are some of the most popular e-sports and professionally played video games around:
- Call of Duty: First-Person Shooter (FPS) originally with a WW2 theme
- CS: GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive): Multiplayer First-Person Shooter (FPS)
- Dota 2: Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game
- FIFA E-sports: soccer simulation enjoying new heights of popularity
- Fortnite: chiefly a Battle Royale game in which the last player or team alive wins
- League of Legends: Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game
- Overwatch: Multiplayer First-Person Shooter (FPS)
- Rainbow Six Seige: tactical First-Person Shooter (FPS)
- Starcraft 2: Real-Time Strategy game (RTS)
The outcomes bettors can bet on in e-sports essentially mimic the types of bets that are made on traditional sports, except for kill-related eGame bets.
Popular Sporting Events, Teams, and Players to Discover in India
There are many popular sporting events on the Indian calendar, as well as equally popular teams and players. Here are some well-known Indian players and teams from various sports:
- Badminton: Srikanth Kidambi is one of the most revered badminton players in India. Teams compete in India’s Premier Badminton League (PBL).
- Cricket: India’s national cricket team enjoys a large following, and captain Virat Kohli is considered one of the best batsmen in the world.
- Field Hockey: Men’s national field hockey team is hugely successful. Famous players include Rupinder Pal Singh and Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh.
- Kabbadi: Pardeep Narwal is widely regarded as the best raider in the VIVO pro kabaddi league.
- Football (soccer): Bengaluru FC is one of the most popular teams in the I-League, while Chennaiyin FC is successful in the Indian Super League.
- Motorsports: Narain Karthikeyan is India’s first Formula One driver.
- Tennis: Popular Indian tennis players include Leander Paes and Sania Mirza.
Examples of significant sports events within India are the National Games of India, the Super Cup in football, the All India Men’s Kabaddi Championship (AIMKC), and the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm Car Rally in motorsports. Among India’s most significant horse racing events are the Indian Derby, Indian 1000 Guineas, and Indian 2000 Guineas.
Is Betting Legal in India? Some of the Variation Between Indian States
So, is betting legal? Although online gambling across most of India is lawful, some southern states banned it in 2020. These included Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Conversely, other Indian states have more relaxed gambling laws and even have brick-and-mortar casinos. The states of Goa and Sikkim have physical casinos, for instance, as does the Daman and Diu union territory of India. Traditionally, games of skill or part-skill such as poker or rummy were exempt from gambling legislation in India, but recent ordinances in a few states have banned all stake-based games. Horse racing is officially considered neither a game of chance nor a stake-based game, so betting on horse races remains permissible even where other gambling is not.
How to Register an Account and Get Started at an Online Sportsbook
Registering an account at an online sportsbook is easy, but you will usually need to provide personal details. This is partly because sportsbooks typically only permit one account per person, so they like to verify who you are and where you live. There are things a player should check out before signing up with a new betting company:
- Customer support: Look at how easy it is (or isn’t) to contact someone if you have a problem.
- Reputation: Always check a sportsbook’s features and reputation by reading online reviews such as those available at OddsGurus.in and elsewhere. Read peer reviews where possible.
- Welcome bonus: Compare welcome bonuses and study the details attached to them. Some have less onerous wagering requirements than others.
- Loyalty incentives: Look at loyalty or VIP schemes that the sportsbook might offer.
- Payment and withdrawal methods: Find one that is suitable for you and look at and conditions or fees attached.
For more information, visit our guide on how to register an account!
Best and Most Economical Payment Methods for Indians Betting at Online Sportsbooks
Some payment methods that nominally accept IRN as currency cause problems with banks when players go to make a deposit. An example of this is Neteller, which works more smoothly for some players than others, depending partly on which bank they use. These are some of the best payment options available to the Indian market:
- AstroPay: Allows payment in IRN while safeguarding personal details
- PayTM: Indian e-commerce payment system
- PhonePe: Indian digital payment company
- Skrill: Digital wallet provider with low fees
With the above payment methods, players should encounter no technical difficulties when depositing and withdrawing Indian rupees.
This is everything you need to know to get started with online betting in India. If you wish to learn more about betting on a specific sport, or find more exciting bonuses, check out the additional guides you can find on our website. In our top-list found at this top of the website, you can visit the best online sportsbooks in India. We wish you Good Luck!