Unlike casino winnings, lottery winnings will be taxed in India. The total amount of tax you will have to pay depends on several factors, although the Income Tax Act, 1961 sets out the specific requirements.
Sometimes the world of online casinos and sports betting can be confusing and full of strange terminology. Fear not, the SuperLenny team are here to straighten it all out. If you have questions, we have answers!
Currently, the legal age at which you can gamble in India is 18. So once you are over 18 and are engaging in the form of gambling that is approved in your region, it is legal to do so. It’s important to remember, however, that this will depend on the province. The age limits also regularly change. Goa, for example, recently tried to raise the minimum age to 21. However, that is yet to be implemented.
There are several things to look out for when trying to decide if an online casino is trustworthy. The most important of these is what sort of licence the online casino has been granted. Online casinos, to be fully compliant with industry regulations, must be licenced and regulated to operate. All trustworthy casinos will have a licence issued by a regulatory body, with the most notable ones being Malta, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar. In addition to the licence, you should also look to see if the software used to run the games it offers has been verified for fairness. Fairness and trustworthiness tests just confirm that the games do not run at any disadvantage to the player. You can also check to see that they operate following responsible gambling procedures.
‘Know Your Customer’ or ‘KYC’ processes are a set of regulations that both financial and non-financial businesses must adhere to as a way of ensuring the funds they take from customers have not been used, intentionally or unintentionally, by criminals for money laundering. The goal of KYC guidelines is to let the business in question get to know its customer and their financial dealings.
Generally speaking, to comply with KYC regulations, online casinos are required to verify the identity of all users who sign up to the platform. That means new users will have to provide proof of identity or address to deposit and withdraw funds to and from the system.
Copies of your identification can usually be sent to the casino in question by email, or on the platform itself. Often, a picture taken on your mobile phone of an official piece of identification will suffice, although a full scan may sometimes be required.
It depends on the platform. However, online casinos are usually pretty quick to process your verification. After all, casinos want you up and running on their system as quickly as possible, so there is an incentive to be quick. In some of the larger casinos, verification can be processed in as little as a day. However, smaller platforms might take slightly more time.
That depends on the game you are playing, what bonuses you might be allowed, and your skills and luck as a player. While there is no upper limit, your ability to win will be affected by a large number of variables.
In certain casinos, you can choose to opt-out of bonus schemes if you wish. Sometimes you may have to do this manually. However, with many other casinos, you can choose not to fulfil the wagering requirements if you would rather not use a particular casino bonus.
Certain casinos may want you to do this manually, particularly where you are availing yourself of a welcome offer or sign-up bonus. In the case of other bonus types, you can simply just opt out of playing the game to which the bonus is attached. Additionally, you will sometimes be given a choice of bonuses to use, which allows you to choose an alternative.
Although you might not have thought it, online casinos are one of the most strictly regulated online businesses. Given that all casinos have to have a licence issued by a regulator to offer their services to players, this ensures that they comply with strict regulations to qualify for the licence. Additionally, as they provide a financial service, online casinos have to comply with strict KYC regulations.
Yes, although this will ultimately depend on the casino. While some of the larger online casinos might allow you to deposit with INR to the platform, others may only let you play in dollars. However, no matter what your ‘home currency’, if INR is not offered, it will be automatically converted upon deposit to the platform.
It will depend on the casino. Some online casinos provide players with a ‘free to play’ facility, which allows you to try out certain games without having to commit funds. Nearly all casinos are free to sign-up to. However, if you want to win real cash, you will have to play with real funds.
For the most part, online casinos can be played through a web browser. That is great for players as it means you can use any device with a web browser to play your favourite casino games. All you have to do is to log in to your account. If you want to play on a mobile device, however, you might be required to download a standalone app.
Customer support details will be available in the ‘Contact Us’ section of the website. Here, you will find some options to make contact with customer support. The easiest of these to use is the built-in chat client, although email and phone are also popular options.
Generally speaking, casino winnings will not be taxed. However, if you use that money to invest or buy something that you then sell and make money from, you may be liable to pay tax on the increase in value.
Unlike casino winnings, lottery winnings will be taxed in India. The total amount of tax you will have to pay depends on several factors, although the Income Tax Act, 1961 sets out the specific requirements.