Those outside of India rarely pause to think just how large the country is, both in terms of land mass and population. Current official estimates put India’s population at a staggering 1.417 billion, making it, by some accounts, the most populace country on the planet.

That fact has a serious bearing on business, too, as anything that can capture the public imagination in India is almost guaranteed to become a commercial behemoth. Take cricket, for example, the third most popular sport in its country of origin and a game barely played in Europe or the Americas.

Despite that it is, according to the numbers, the most popular sport in the world and that’s solely down to its popularity here in India where there is an estimated core base of 678 million regular cricket viewers.

Those numbers have an impact on commercial matters too. As a result of cricket’s popularity in India, teams can attract the best players in the world to their leagues with the promise of large salaries. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, two of the highest-paid players in the Indian Premier League rake in just under $3 million each for playing in the two-month tournament.

If that figure were translated into 12 months, it would put these cricketers on par with some of the best-paid soccer players in the world. If the sheer size of the Indian market is such that it can put cricket on a financial footing with soccer, why haven’t other industries targeted India? Well, there’s one that currently is…

Indian Sports Betting

Whilst it might be a global powerhouse in terms of population and economy, India isn’t exactly leading the way when it comes to forward-thinking legislation. The primary law governing sports betting in the country is the Public Gaming Act of 1867 which was written into law when the country was a British colony.

That is both a curse and a blessing for the Indian sports betting industry. It is a curse because it means that sports betting shops cannot operate legally in the country. It’s a blessing, though. It does not mention online betting because it was written almost 150 years ago.

As such, online sports betting in India is legal. The unfortunate part, however, is that due to the antiquated legislation, it is not regulated in the same way as it is in Europe and North America.

Indian Sports Betting Figures

In the United Kingdom, it is quite easy to see the annual revenues for the gambling industry and to break it down by sector. All you have to do is go to the Gambling Commission site and read the most recent report on the industry. That’s how it works in a country with a modern regulatory framework.

Here in India however, due to the lack of gambling infrastructure, it’s difficult to say for certain what the total annual sports betting revenue is. For example, due to legal holes, overseas sports betting companies can and regularly do take bets from Indians. 

This takes revenues out of this country and puts it onto the balance sheet of other countries and overshadows some of the best Indian betting sites. This is something other countries have noticed as a problem within their legislation. One of the main positives of legalisation is the legitimate collection of taxes and the growth of local businesses.

The current best estimates put India’s annual sports betting revenues at just under $60 billion, which despite regulation issues, is still a vast number. To put that into perspective that is 20 times larger than the revenues in the UK, a country that is often used as the example of how to successfully run a sports betting industry.

India’s Most Popular Sports to Bet on

If you’ve been reading from the very start, you should be able to guess quite easily what the most bet on sport in India is. Of course, it is cricket. According to a 2023 report, between 80% and 90% of sports betting revenues in the country come from wagers placed on cricket.

The same report also established that around 340 million Indians regularly place bets on cricket games. Kabaddi is in a distant second position, with soccer rounding off the top three. The latter two, however, have nowhere near the same appeal as cricket does with sports betting fans.

Cricket, Cricket, Cricket = Money, Money, Money

As we set out in the introduction to this article, cricket is huge in India. This is something that online sports betting companies have not failed to notice, and as a result, they reap financial rewards.

If you are reading and wondering how to maximise your profits, industry experts from other areas have a long, hard question about how your company or sector can make itself relevant to India’s huge cricket fandom.