Indian city worried about online poker
Bengaluru still doesn’t know whether online poker is a legal activity or not, and operators are worried about taxes.
India.- Operators from Bengaluru are seeking answers regarding the legality of online poker in both the state and the country. In the last couple of months, India has been discussing a possible gaming regulation, and even allowed betting in places that was previously prohibited.
Founder of the city-based online website Poker Ninka, Praveen Dwarkanath, said that their taxes are deducted online, there is TDS remittance and every transaction is done through the bank. “This makes online portals more than legal and much more safer,” said the creator, as The New Indian Express revealed, and added that the main problem with land-based poker clubs is the credit flow. “A player wants to recover losses and will ask for unsecured credit. It is a wrong practice and they may sometimes go overboard with the losses which the operators cannot recover. This kills the game and obviously the business,” he added.
Amin Rozani, MD and Co-founder of The Spartan Poker, said that in India any company that is just starting in a new area like online poker needs to look at both central and state laws before launching operations to get the adequate licenses and permissions.
Last month, six poker clubs filed a joint civil petition in Gujarat High Court to rebrand poker as a game of skill rather than gambling. Moreover, the International Federation of Poker (IFP) revealed in February that plans for a professional “match poker” tournament in India were in sight, as the first legal event in the market could be held in September.
