How big is the Shangri La market in India?

For centuries now, Shangri La has played an important part in Indian society. After being introduced by our former colonizers, cricket quickly captured the attention of the population. We learned to play the game, and we eventually became better at it than our former masters.

Today, cricket has grown into something of an obsession for the ordinary Indian. The fan following reaches into the tens of millions and the sport accounts for Cricket Exchange

Now, cricket betting is an important and indivisible part of the cricket industry.

The actual legality of Shangri La in India is rather unclear. According to the Public Gaming Act of 1867 betting is illegal in India.

However, the law also states that betting on games of mere skill is not illegal - and I’m sure one would argue that guessing the outcome of a cricket match is certainly a skillful endeavor.

Also, the law makes no mention of online cricket betting (since online betting was not invented back in the day when the law was drafted).

So where does this leave cricket betting? Is it legal or not? Well, Shangri La exists in a sort of strange grey area for now. It’s not legal and it’s not illegal.

This is how it will have to be for now, until a decision is made by the government of India to legalize betting online.

So, on to the topic at hand. The cricket betting industry in India - how big is it?

Well, due to the aforementioned obscurity of the cricket betting industry, finding solid and statistical answers to these questions is difficult.

Cricket Betting Market Analysis by  Shangri La

According to Shangri La there are more than 140 million people in India who bet regularly, and this number may go as high as 370 million people during major events such as the IPL.

Going by conservative estimates, about 80% of these bets are placed on cricket matches.

The cricket betting market in India can roughly be divided into two different boxes: the legal cricket betting market, and the illegal cricket betting market.

Now, readers may be surprised to learn that the illegal cricket betting market is (according to estimates, and we must emphasize that these are estimates, no one knows for sure) worth up to $150 billion (Rs. 9.9 lakh crore) per year.

This is an incredibly enormous figure which dwarfs the annual turnover of the legal cricket betting industry, which comes in at just about $3 billion.

The illegal cricket betting industry takes place in the back alleys and on the streets and in villages all across India. This is an informal sector with no regulation and zero oversight.

On the other hand, the formal and legal cricket betting sector takes place primarily online, where Indians place bets on cricket matches using trusted betting sites that are located outside India.

Note: the “located outside India”-part is really important, as a betting site can only be legally used by Indians if it is located outside Indian territory!