Indian State Sikkim Online Allowed Gambling Within State Lines

Wednesday August 12,2015 : SIKKIM RESTRICTED TO ONLINE GAMBLING WITHIN STATE LINES (Update)

Amendment approved by legislative assembly.

Indian State Sikkim has had its ambitious “online gambling throughout India” aspirations halted after its legislative assembly cleared the way for India’s first betting shops late last month.

The passage of the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 was followed by the Union Home Ministry saying it is restricted to offering online gambling within Sikkim State lines, reports glaws.in.

Sikkim, is the only Indian province so far to regulate and licence online gambling, issuing its second licence to the energy drink group Maarm International Pvt. earlier this year.  The other online gambling license was awarded to Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. late last year

Regardless, the passage of the amendment has been met with optimism by Manoj Sethi, director of Golden Gaming International who said, based on the amendment having been signed off by the Governor and published, the company hopes to launch operations as soon as September.

"We already have the technical and physical infrastructure in place and are only waiting for a go-ahead from the Directorate of State Lotteries,” Sethi told glaw.in

While the restriction within state lines shrinks the projected potential online market from 1.2 billion to around 600 000, the State hopes the passage will encourage other States to introduce the activity paving the way for cross-state cooperation.