New government data says 1.25 lakh cases under Gambling Act in 2014

Figures released by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs indicate that a total of 125494 cases under Gambling Acts of various states were registered in the year 2014 across India.

The top 10 states in terms of the number of cases registered under Gambling Act were: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala during the year 2014. The largest number of cases registered under Gambling Act (22050) were in Madhya Pradesh, which accounted for 17.57% of the total cases registered while Maharashtra came second with a total of 16637 cases being registered.

These top 5 states accounted for 62.26% of the number of cases registered under Gambling Act in India, while the total 10 states accounted for 91.76% of the total number of cases registered as per the 2014 government data.

Notably, states like Sikkim, Mizoram and Lakshadweep were ‘gambling mukt‘ and did not register any cases under the applicable gaming legislation. The data released by the Home Ministry however does not indicate the conviction rate in gambling cases, which is believed to be abysmally low.

Understandably, large number of cases were registered in populous states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Interestingly however, no gambling case was registered in Sikkim where casinos, online gaming and state-run lotteries are legal. No instance of any illegal gambling activity in Mizoram can probably be attributed to the fact that state-run lotteries provide citizens an avenue to legally try their luck.