Betting Sites in India (2023)

How We Choose the Best Betting Sites in India

On BettingGuide.com, we list and compare the best betting sites in India which offer the most sports, betting markets, the highest betting odds, 24/7 customer support, a wide range of local Indian payment methods, and much more.

We have also written short reviews and ranked the top ten betting sites in six key areas to make sure the operator provides a legal, safe, and top-tier betting experience for all Indian players.

Users can also compare the best sports betting sites for popular sports below, including the best bookies for cricket, football, kabaddi, tennis & horse racing betting.

Legal, Licensed & Safe

India is still a grey market, and there are no clear laws for online gambling, apart from in the state of Maharashtra, where all gambling is completely prohibited.

But, with the lack of regulation and laws, online betting is essentially legal for Indian residents if they use offshore betting sites that are legal and licensed in those territories. Offshore betting sites operate in this grey area where there are still no laws against online betting for players from India, and, millions of Indians continue to gamble safely using these sites.

Find our full list of online bookmakers that are offshore (not in India), licensed, and accept deposits in Indian Rupees.

We also recommend reading our Indian online gambling laws guide for more information.

As the offshore betting sites hold reputable gambling licenses from respected authorities such as the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), each bookie needs to comply with strict safety regulations or risk losing their licenses.

Naturally, for a lot of people, it is safety and security that tops the list when it comes to the most important things they seek from a betting site in India.

You want to feel assured there are not going to be any issues when you are sharing your personal and financial information with a company.

We check all the top betting sites in India out in this area in order to put your mind at ease. But, not all betting sites in India hit the mark on safety and security. However, our list of the best betting sites all offers high-end online security which secures communications by encrypting all data to and from the site.

Without the very best possible safety and security at betting sites in India, you will not feel comfortable making a deposit and sharing your bank details as a result.

Various different types of security are used by betting sites in India. We know all about these and include the relevant information in our bookmaker reviews, so you can trust them.

For example, Thawte is a leading global Certification Authority that is often used by the top betting sites in India. Other encryption gambling sites based in India may use include GoDaddy, RapidSSL or Comodo.

Sign Up Offers

All of the best betting sites in India offer high-value new customer sign up offers to attract new players. It is important to take full advantage of these signup offers, as you can only claim them once (on each bookie), and they almost always offer more value than any other promotion available.

Some punters even sign up to almost every legal bookie available to take advantage of these fantastic free bet offers.

For a lot of people in India who want to bet, getting the best sign up offers is a must. So many different promotions are out there it can be difficult to judge which of them is the best, but we have sorted through them all for you.

Therefore, you can be assured that all our promotions and bonuses are fully up to date as well. We cover the most important terms and conditions of these sign up offers too.

Here are some of the most popular types of promotion that are used by Indian betting sites:

• Free bets 
• No deposit bonuses 
• Enhanced odds or price boosts 
• Cashback rewards 
• VIP rewards

Free bets are certainly one of the best promotions at Indian betting sites. They offer the chance to make a profit without any risk of losing money. Free bets are offered as welcome bonuses but can be offered as part of a rewards scheme too.

Another risk-free option is by using no deposit bonuses when joining a new Indian bookmaker. These deals do exactly as they say in the name, offering a bonus before you make a deposit.

Enhanced odds or price boosts may be offered on some markets to tempt you into a bet. These are more likely to be available on a particularly big game, for example, the final of the Indian Premier League or perhaps the Cricket World Cup.

Betting sites in India reward loyalty in a range of ways, including with cashback deals. This could be a rebate on your losses, or a boost to any deposits you make.

Another top way to reward customer loyalty is by offering a VIP rewards scheme. Each betting site in India runs its VIP rewards in a different way, which we cover in all of our reviews.

But, not all signup bonuses offer good value, and it is important to learn how to spot the best and avoid the worst.

Firstly, look at the wagering requirements on the bonus, to see how much you need to wager the amount to unlock the funds for withdrawal. The best bonuses come with no wagering requirements, but some, require you to wager the bonus 10x the amount, or even more on casino bonuses.

Secondly, check to see what restrictions there are on the bonus, whether you need to deposit using a certain payment method, or if the bonus can only be used on a certain sport, market, etc.

Lastly, it is important to check if you need to enter a bonus code, and what the minimum deposit and bet amount are to qualify for the offer. Not all bonuses have these conditions, but it is crucial to check so you do not miss out on claiming the offer.

Wide Range of Payment Methods

After making sure the betting site is legal, licensed, and safe, we check to see which payment methods are accepted, to be sure residents from India can deposit and withdraw money. But it is surprising how many bookmakers claim to be welcoming to Indians without doing this.

After all, the rules surrounding changing currency in India are tight, so this is a crucial thing to watch. Using Indian currency at betting sites is also just a lot easier for financial management reasons.

UPI, Paytm and PhonePe are some of the most popular payment methods to use at Indian betting sites, so you will want to know if these are available.

Other payment methods that Indian players can use include e-wallets such as Neteller, Skrill and PayPal, with further alternatives including AstroPay Card.

Also, watch out for Indian betting sites adding cryptocurrency to their payment options. Bitcoin is an increasingly popular way to add funds to a betting site in India.

Almost all of the sports betting sites in our list accept either UPI, Paytm, Neteller or Skrill, and they are our four recommended payment methods for players from India.

Both Neteller and Skrill offer the quickest and safest deposits and withdrawals for players from India and might be the only two options that work for most.

There are not many banks in India (if any) that accept direct deposits or withdrawals from gambling sites, so most players will need to use a prepaid card, or e-wallets to deposit and withdraw money.

Design, Style and Usability

It is not all about the functionality of the best betting sites in India for a lot of customers. You want to use a site that looks classy and clean, so we take this into account in our reviews. Design and style include the layout of the site, for instance, how easy it is for users to navigate. 

When you need to place a bet in a hurry, the speed of your chosen Indian betting site is key as well. This is why we run speed tests in all of the bookmaker reviews that we make available.

Sports & Betting Markets Available

We already touched on some of the most popular sports to bet on in India.

It makes sense to join a site that has a strong focus on your favourite sports, whether that is tennis, cricket, horse racing or field hockey. Some betting sites have more sports available to bet on while others have more limited options.

It is worth checking in advance to see if the sport you want to bet on is going to be available, especially if it is considered to be quite a niche. Let's say kabaddi betting is your passion. This will not be available on every betting site in India.

On a related note, it can be surprising to see just how much variance there is in the number of betting markets offered by bookmakers.

If you are only looking for basic markets like who is going to win a cricket match in the Pakistan Super League, this is unlikely to pose a problem.

However, for those who want to bet on markets like the top batsman, or how many runs will be scored in the next over in a live match, then this becomes a more important factor.

Quickly compare the top five sports betting sites below, as we compare the number of sports available, the average number of betting markets, and whether the bookie offers free live streaming and a cash-out feature.

bet365 is our number one pick for sports betting, with 30+ sports, free live streams, full and partial cashouts, high betting odds, and hundreds of betting markets.

High Betting Odds

Anyone who is serious about online betting in India needs to know the value of betting odds. Even if you think the difference between odds available on different sites is small, it mounts up in the long run if you place a lot of bets on sport.

Shopping around for the best odds on your chosen bet can be useful to boost your profits, while we tell you how good the odds from a bookmaker are in our detailed betting site reviews. Some bookmakers may also be known for having top odds in some sports, but not in others.

But how do we calculate which betting sites offer the highest betting odds on average? Well, you can compare the betting margins for each bookie below, for both live and pre-match markets on cricket, football and horse racing bets.

If you did not know, the betting margin is essentially how much a bookie "charges" you to place a bet. Simply put, the lower the betting margin, the higher the odds.

Mobile Betting

More and more Indians want to use their mobile phone for betting these days. This allows you to place a bet on the big game even if you are not at home, which creates more opportunities for winning wagers. 

While betting sites invariably have a good mobile site now, an app can take things to the next level. We will tell you in our reviews whether the betting site in question has betting apps and whether they are available on iOS, Android or other platforms.

We will even review those betting apps to tell you if they are worth using or not, as well as going through what the software has to offer in terms of betting markets and so on.

Compare which betting sites offer betting apps on Android and iOS below, and the results of our tests on our best betting apps in India page.

Customer Support

If you have an issue with your betting site account, you need to be able to get help quickly in order to resolve the issue.

This is why customer support is so vital. The best betting sites tend to offer customer service on a 24 hours a day basis and there might be help on offer in multiple languages as well.

Live chat is one of the most popular ways to use customer service these days. But a range of customer service options is a good thing, as some people prefer to use the phone or email.

The best betting sites in India offer 24/7 customer support with several methods of contact including a live chat, email, and free phone number. This is certainly not the case across all betting sites, but the top five in our list all offer top-tier, 24/7 customer support with several contact methods. Compare the customer support options for each betting site in our table below.