'If you do it on a boat in Goa...': IIM alumnus exposes online gaming ban loophole in India

India has banned online real money gaming apps, but the roulette wheels in Goa’s floating casinos are still spinning. Lokesh Ahuja, an IIM alumnus, calls it a glaring loophole: “If you do it on a boat in Goa, it is still legal.”

The paradox stems from a colonial-era law. Real money, chance-based games have been banned across most of India since 1867. But in 1999, Goa carved out a special exemption for casinos inside 5-star hotels and offshore vessels docked on the Mandovi river. Since then, those boats have thrived, drawing weekend crowds from Mumbai and beyond.

Online gaming grew unchecked for years—reaching over ₹16,000 crore in revenues, millions of players, and billions in venture capital funding—until Parliament slammed the brakes. 

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025, passed in the Lok Sabha this week, effectively criminalizes both fantasy and gambling apps.

“The logic seems to be: make real money gaming harder by removing access. If someone really wants to, let them take a flight to Goa,” Ahuja observed in his LinkedIn post. But he argues that India has better options than blanket bans.

He points to international models:

• Age limits: US casinos enforce a strict 21+ rule with ID checks.
• Spending caps: The UK forces apps to set daily or monthly limits.
• Cooling-off periods: In Singapore, players can self-exclude, or family members can request exclusion.
• Purposeful taxation: US states earmark gambling taxes for addiction treatment and education.
• Mandatory KYC: Like stock trading in India, where Aadhaar verification is non-negotiable.

“In the age of AI, surely India can design smarter guardrails than a blanket ban,” Ahuja writes. He draws a parallel to crypto: ignored for years, then suddenly slapped with a 30% tax and no clarity on legality.

Critics warn that bans don’t kill demand, they drive it underground. Betting on cricket remains rampant despite being illegal. China’s restrictions on gaming have only spawned VPN workarounds and underground markets. “Regulation, like we do with alcohol and cigarettes, usually works better than outright bans,” Ahuja argues.

For now, the boats in Goa are still running. The apps are gone. And the real gamble, as Ahuja puts it, is whether India can regulate with consistency and foresight.