Is Playing Online Poker in India Legal ?

1. JSG JH Is Playing Online Poker in India Legal ? The game of Poker is evolving at a rapid pace to command the landscape of competitive skill-based sports in India. This card game has come a long way over last few decades with major national and international celebrities lauding its exceptional business-decision making and reverse psychological skills. Poker is defying a rigid stigma and powering its players’ decision-making skills in today’s competitive world even as a persistent question lingers on- is Poker legal in India? India is riding high on the stellar rise this game has seen over last few years, a move that is further powered by a belated legitimation awarded by Punjab and Haryana High Court recently. (We know that Hon. Supreme Court’s decision is awaited on the legality of Poker). This intriguing skill-based card game is beating its age old infamous notion of being a chance-based game and largely hinges on dexterity, skill, risk management, decision-making and Mathematics. Poker players find it a fascinating sum of their innate playing style (or “pattern”) and astute reverse psychology skills, not to forget their personal excellence at the game. Several noted sport personalities like Rafael Nadal, Christiano Ronaldo and Shane Warne have come together to play this millennial game. This prompted Dabur’s Vice-President, Amit Burman to chip-in

2. with the country’s first grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand to come up with his avant garde brainchild- Poker Sports League. It is a premier Poker tournament in India and features one of the world’s largest Poker League prize pools. This endeavor is surely making its presence felt in the gaming circuits. Over last four years, the country’s premier management institute, IIM Kozhikode, has devised its poker- centric elective course called ‘Competitive Strategy: the Game of Poker.’ (This subject is as exhaustive as its American equivalent that is being taught in top universities like Harvard Law and Massachusetts Institute of Technology for last many years). Commenting on the development, the Assistant Professor at IIM Kozhikode and an enthusiastic Poker player himself, Deepak Dhayanithy was quick to remark that ‘a 25-year-old youngster who has been playing poker for 4 years has the poker age of a 45-year-old.’ This observation is a close parallel to Poker being an admired tool to understand the intricacies of advanced subjects like Behavioral Economics, Probability, Statistics, Psychology, Artificial Intelligence, Management, Pedagogy and Big-Data- and not to mention Reverse Psychology and Human Behavior. For the skeptics who’d rather believe that running such a course would only make someone “addicted” to the game, IIM Kozhikode pairs this course with a comprehensive peer review that acts like an antidote to any malefic or addictive properties that one can develop over time after compulsively playing Poker over a length of time. The advantage rests with the person embracing and playing Poker, and respecting it as a skill-based game that has much to give to the world. We hope this meticulous dissection answers the commonplace question about its legality aka “is poker legal in India?” India is in the middle of a sonic boom that this card game has created. As the landscape of online gaming continues to evolve, the question of being the best and free online poker website in India also comes to the fore. We have our money on PokerBaazi.com, which is the safest and best online poker website in India. It offers a large number of daily and weekly free and paid tournaments, monthly grand events and a quarterly super tournament called PPL- these all cap guaranteed prize money worth crores of Indian rupees. Poker and its admirers across the world have been trying their best to break the stigma that has enshrouded this highly dexterous game since ages. Given your support and love for this intriguing skill- based card game, the country’s nascent gaming and fantasy sport industry is all set for a Full House in days to come.