Short answer: no. Satta and matka are illegal in every Indian state, offline and online. What is legal is narrow: lotteries run by state governments that allow them, betting on horse races at licensed racecourses, and licensed casinos in Goa, Daman and Sikkim. Since 2025, online money games are banned nationwide.
Gambling is a state subject
The Constitution places “betting and gambling” in the State List (Entry 34, List II of the Seventh Schedule). That is why the rules differ from state to state: each state either adopted the colonial-era central law or wrote its own.
The Public Gambling Act, 1867
The oldest and most widely adopted law punishes running a “common gaming house” and being found in one. Under the original Act the penalties were small — a fine of up to ₹200 or up to three months in jail for operators, and ₹100 or up to a month for visitors — but many states have since written stricter laws of their own, including:
- the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887 (Maharashtra and Gujarat),
- the West Bengal Gambling and Prize Competitions Act, 1957,
- the Delhi Public Gambling Act, 1955,
- the Kerala Gambling Act, 1960, and
- the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, 1976, which also licenses casinos.
Skill versus chance
The 1867 Act does not apply to “games of mere skill”. Courts have used this to distinguish activities where skill dominates — in K.R. Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu (1996) the Supreme Court treated horse racing as a game of skill. Matka is the opposite: the outcome is a random draw that no player can influence, so it gets no protection from the skill exception.
Lotteries: legal only when the state runs them
The Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998 lets a state government organise and conduct its own lottery under conditions set by the Act and the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2010. Among them, the state itself must run the lottery and each lottery scheme is limited in how often it can be drawn. A state may also ban the sale of other states’ lottery tickets within its borders. Kerala’s lottery, run by the state since 1967, is the best-known example. See state lotteries in India.
Matka is not a lottery under this law. No state organises it, no state licenses it, and nobody can obtain a permit to run it.
Online: the 2025 ban on money games
Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill on 20–21 August 2025 and it received Presidential assent on 22 August 2025. The Act:
- prohibits offering, operating, advertising or promoting online money games, whether they are based on skill, chance or both;
- bars banks and payment systems from processing payments for them;
- promotes e-sports and online social games instead; and
- targets operators, advertisers and payment facilitators with penalties, rather than players.
Draft rules under the Act were released in October 2025. Separately, in 2026 the Supreme Court upheld state bans on online gambling in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
What about matka result sites and apps?
Sites that publish “results”, charts and “guessing” numbers exist to drive illegal betting. Operating or promoting them is unlawful, and anyone who sends them money has no legal way to get it back if they are cheated. They are also a prime source of fraud: fake “fix game” sellers, UPI scams and data theft. Our advice is simple — stay away, and never pay for a number.
What is and isn’t legal: at a glance
| Activity | Legal status |
|---|---|
| Satta / matka (offline or online) | Illegal in every state |
| State government lotteries | Legal in states that run or allow them, bought through official channels |
| Private lotteries | Not permitted; lotteries must be run by a state government |
| Horse-race betting | Legal at licensed racecourses |
| Casinos | Licensed in Goa, Daman and Sikkim only |
| Online money games (cash rummy, poker, fantasy, betting apps) | Banned nationwide by the 2025 Act |
| E-sports and free social games | Legal and promoted under the 2025 Act |
Common questions
Can I get into trouble for playing matka?
State gambling laws punish people found gambling in a gaming house, and police do raid matka dens. Online, the 2025 Act focuses penalties on operators and promoters, but players still have no protection if they are cheated, and their payments can be frozen.
Is it illegal just to look at matka results?
Reading a website is not itself an offence, but these sites exist to drive illegal betting and often carry malware, fake apps and scam offers. There is nothing on them worth the risk.
Are Kerala, Nagaland or Punjab lotteries legal?
Yes, when bought through the state’s official channels in a place where sale is allowed. Kerala tickets, for example, are sold as paper tickets through authorised agents in Kerala.
Sources
- Gambling in India, Wikipedia
- Parliament passes law banning all online money games, Mondaq
- India’s new gaming law transforms landscape, Mondaq
- Lottery regulation in India, Drishti IAS