How big is the cricket betting market in India? -  An analysis by MyBetting.in

For centuries now, cricket has played an important part in Indian society. After being introduced by our former colonizers, cricket quickly captured the attention of the population. We learned to play the game, and we eventually became better at it than our former masters.

Today, cricket has grown into something of an obsession for the ordinary Indian. The fan following reaches into the tens of millions and the sport accounts for almost 85% of the Indian sports economy.

Now, cricket betting is an important and indivisible part of the cricket industry.

The actual legality of cricket betting in India is rather unclear. According to the Public Gaming Act of 1867 betting is illegal in India.

However, the law also states that betting on games of mere skill is not illegal - and I’m sure one would argue that guessing the outcome of a cricket match is certainly a skillful endeavour.

Also, the law makes no mention of online cricket betting (since online betting was not invented back in the day when the law was drafted).

So where does this leave cricket betting? Is it legal or not? Well, cricket betting exists in a sort of strange grey area for now. It’s not legal and it’s not illegal.

This is how it will have to be for now, until a decision is made by the government of India to legalise betting online.

So, on to the topic at hand. The cricket betting industry in India - how big is it?

Well, due to the aforementioned obscurity of the cricket betting industry, finding solid and statistical answers to these questions is difficult.

So, to better understand the size and scale of the cricket betting industry in India, we reached out to MyBetting, an online betting guide that helps Indian players with all the intricacies of betting online.

Cricket Betting Market Analysis by MyBetting.in

According to online betting statistics provided by MyBetting, there are more than 140 million people in India who bet regularly, and this number may go as high as 370 million people during major events such as the IPL.

Going by conservative estimates, about 80% of these bets are placed on cricket matches.

The cricket betting market in India can roughly be divided into two different boxes: the legal cricket betting market, and the illegal cricket betting market.

Now, readers may be surprised to learn that the illegal cricket betting market is (according to estimates, and we must emphasize that these are estimates, no one knows for sure) worth up to $150 billion (Rs. 9.9 lakh crore) per year.

This is an incredibly enormous figure which dwarfs the annual turnover of the legal cricket betting industry, which comes in at just about $3 billion.

The illegal cricket betting industry takes place in back alleys and on the streets and in villages all across India. This is an informal sector with no regulation and zero oversight.

On the other hand, the formal and legal cricket betting sector takes place primarily online, where Indians place bets on cricket matches using trusted betting sites that are located outside India.

Note: the “located outside India”-part is really important, as a betting site can only be legally used by Indians if it is located outside Indian territory!

So why is the illegal cricket betting market so much bigger than the legal one?

The answer to that question is the lack of internet penetration across India - most people still don’t have regular and stable access to the internet, which is a necessity if one wants to use an international betting site.

According to estimates provided by MyBetting, 40% of Indians with access to the internet will visit an online betting site at one point or another.

So if we go by this statistic, we can deduce that as internet penetration grows in India, so too will the percentage of legal cricket betting in India grow, while the share of illegal cricket betting will fall.

The overall online betting market in India is growing at a rapid rate of 20% per year, and as the lion’s share of this growth is happening in the cricket betting market - well, as you can guess: the cricket betting market is gonna continue to grow rapidly over the next 5-10 years.

The result of this is that more and more international online betting sites will set up shop in India and attempt to appeal to Indian players with better offers and more cricket options.

This is ultimately a positive thing for the Indian bettor, as he will have more options and offers to choose from, thus giving him a far better betting experience.

If you’re interested in exploring the cricket betting market further, we highly encourage you to visit MyBetting.in, where you will find all the information you need.