Is Stake legal in India? What the 2025 Act, the state laws and Stake's own terms say
Is Stake legal in India?
Section 5 of India's Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 prohibits offering online money games, and section 7 bars banks from processing them. Stake's own list of 45 prohibited jurisdictions, read on 4 October 2026, does not name India, and clause 4.5(b) puts the legal risk on the player.
Piece published Reviewed by CryptoGuardz Register Desk, editorial desk
No Indian law licenses Stake, and since August 2025 a central Act prohibits offering any online money game in India. Section 5 of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 bans offering them, section 9 sets up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to one crore rupees for doing so, and section 7 bars banks and payment firms from moving the money. Stake's own terms, read on 4 October 2026, list 45 prohibited jurisdictions. India is not one of them.
So the question "is Stake legal in India" has two answers that do not match. The operator does not block India on paper. Indian law does not permit what the operator offers.
What does India's 2025 Online Gaming Act say?
It prohibits the business outright. The Act, No. 32 of 2025, received assent on 22 August 2025. It defines an online money game as one played "by paying fees, depositing money or other stakes in expectation of winning", whether the game turns on skill, chance or both. Then:
No person shall offer, aid, abet, induce or otherwise indulge or engage in the offering of online money game and online money gaming service.
Three further sections carry the weight for a player's money. Section 6 bans advertising online money games. Section 7 says no bank, financial institution or other person facilitating payments shall "engage in, permit, aid, abet, induce or otherwise facilitate any transaction" for them. Section 14 lets the government block "any information generated, transmitted, received or hosted in any computer resource in relation to online money gaming service" under section 69A of the IT Act. Section 10 makes offences under sections 5 and 7 cognizable and non-bailable.
The penalties in section 9 are aimed at the operator and the advertiser: up to 3 years or one crore rupees for offering, up to 2 years or fifty lakh rupees for advertising. No section of the Act read on India Code penalises a person for playing. The commencement notification under section 1(3) and the 2026 Rules were not fetched from a government source: not verified.
Do the state laws apply as well?
Yes, and some of them do reach the player. Gambling law in India is layered, and the central Act sits on top of state statutes that already existed.
| Law | Who it reaches | Penalty stated | Online named |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Gaming Act 2025, s.5 and s.9 | Operator | Up to 3 years or Rs 1 crore | Yes |
| Online Gaming Act 2025, s.7 | Banks, payment firms | Not verified | Yes |
| Public Gambling Act 1867, s.4 | Person found in a gaming-house | Up to Rs 100 or 1 month | No |
| Tamil Nadu Act 9 of 2023, s.16(1) | Player | Up to 3 months or Rs 5,000 | Yes |
| Telangana Gaming (Amendment) Bill 2017 | Gaming in "cyber space" | Not verified | Yes |
| Karnataka 2021 amendment | No data | No data | Not verified |
The 1867 Act is a colonial statute about physical premises. Its definition of a common gaming-house is a "house, walled enclosure, room or place" and the text does not mention the internet anywhere.
Tamil Nadu's 2022 Act, published as Act 9 of 2023, is the one that names the player. Section 7(1) reads "Online gambling is prohibited", and section 16(1) punishes anyone who "indulges in online gambling" with "imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees or with both."
Telangana's 2017 amendment bill rewrote the definition of a common gaming house to include "cyber space", and added "online gaming for money or any other stakes" to the Act. The PRS copy is the bill as introduced on 7 November 2017; the enacted text was not fetched. Karnataka's 2021 amendment and the High Court ruling on it were not fetched either: not verified.
What do Stake's own terms say about India?
Nothing by name. Clause 14.3 of the terms at stake.com/policies/terms, read on 4 October 2026, lists 45 prohibited jurisdictions from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. India is absent. The register recorded the list a month earlier in these words:
Forty-four jurisdictions including Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Ontario, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The full list, country by country, is on Stake's restricted countries page.
Not listing India is not the same as permitting it. Clause 4.5(b) makes legality the user's problem: "Stake is not able to verify the legality of the Service in each jurisdiction and it is the User's responsibility to ensure that their use of the Service is lawful". Clause 5.1(e) then has the player warrant they are "accessing stake.com from a jurisdiction in which it is legal to do so". An Indian resident who signs up after August 2025 has, on Stake's paper, made a promise the Indian statute book contradicts. Clause 4.21 lets Stake "withhold and/or retain any and all amounts which would otherwise have been paid or payable to you (including any winnings)" in the cases it covers. The licence Stake relies on is Curacao's, recorded on the Stake entry as "Assessment in progress".
What are "Stake mirror sites" in India?
Usually a phishing risk. Section 14 of the 2025 Act lets the government block online money gaming services, and a blocked brand attracts lookalike domains that copy its login page. Stake's terms, read on 4 October 2026, name no mirror, alternative or backup domain at all. The register records one domain for the operator: stake.com.
A page that copies Stake's design on another domain is, on the documents, an unverified site. Whatever credentials or deposit address it collects go to whoever runs it. Clause 14.4 also treats using a VPN or proxy "with the intent to circumvent geo-blocking or jurisdiction restrictions" as a breach, so the same route that leads to a lookalike domain leads into the forfeiture clauses. The VPN clause dataset records what each operator's terms do on detection. This register publishes no mirror links and will not.
What is the legal position for a player in India?
On the documents read: the central Act prohibits the offering, the advertising and the payment flow, and does not penalise the player; Tamil Nadu's Act penalises the player directly; Stake's terms do not exclude India and make the player responsible for legality. The India country page shows which operators on the register name India in their own restricted lists.
What a court in a given state would do with a specific player is not something these documents answer.
Quick answers
Is Stake legal in India?
No Indian licence covers it, and section 5 of the 2025 Online Gaming Act prohibits offering online money games. Stake's terms list 45 prohibited jurisdictions without India. See the Stake entry.
Can a player be punished for using Stake in India?
The 2025 central Act's penalties in section 9 target operators and advertisers. Tamil Nadu's section 16(1) reaches players: up to 3 months or Rs 5,000.
Does Stake block India?
Not in its terms. Clause 14.3, read on 4 October 2026, does not name India, and clause 4.5(b) makes legality the user's responsibility. The full list is on Stake's restricted countries page.
Are Stake mirror sites safe?
Stake's terms name no mirror domain, so any lookalike domain is unverified. Credentials entered there go to an unknown party.
Where can I get help with gambling in India?
Gambling Therapy offers free international support at gamblingtherapy.org. More options are on the responsible gambling page.
Sources
- The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (Act No. 32 of 2025), India Code, retrieved 4 October 2026
- The Public Gambling Act, 1867, India Code, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022 (Act 9 of 2023), PRS Legislative Research copy, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Telangana Gaming (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Bill No. 15 of 2017), PRS Legislative Research copy, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Stake terms of service, clauses 4.5, 4.21, 5.1, 14.3 and 14.4, retrieved 4 October 2026
- CryptoGuardz register entry for Stake, restricted countries field retrieved 2 September 2026
- Gambling Therapy
About this piece
Compiled by the CryptoGuardz register team from the sources listed above. Research and drafting are AI-assisted and reviewed by a named editor before publication. Nothing here is a recommendation to gamble. If a figure or a reading is wrong, tell us and the correction is logged in public.