Sikkim Online Lottery

Lottery Laws in Sikkim

Sikkim is one of the three states in India that has legalised land-based casinos and one of the thirteen states that organises legal state lotteries. Let’s look at the scenario of both online and domestic lotteries in this North-Eastern state of India.

Online

Unlike other states of India that have no particular laws to legalise or ban online gambling, Sikkim amended its online gambling laws. It made online betting and gambling legal in 2009. 

According to the Sikkim Online Gaming Regulations of 2009, residents can participate in gambling and sports betting through online platforms. Everything is legal whether it's betting on cricket, horse racing, boxing, football or hockey or playing poker, blackjack, rummy or roulette online. 

The amendment in the law gave people access to bigger lottery draws offered by international lotteries. Many online lottery platforms sell genuine tickets to these draws. Many people have even won prizes which are much bigger than the prizes offered by the state lottery. 

The winning from all the international lottery draws is taxable. This means that if you receive your winnings in your bank account in Sikkim, they may get taxed according to the country's tax laws.

Offline

Under India's Lotteries Regulations Act of 1998, Sikkim chose to legalise government lottery. It has been organised since 1978 and is very popular amongst Sikkim punters. As per India's lottery law, only government-run lotteries are available in the state. The tickets for these draws are only available through authorised sellers and are not allowed to be sold online.

The Sikkim state lottery is only available to the residents of the country. This means if you are a tourist in Sikkim, you cannot buy state lottery tickets. Other than lotteries, there are a few casinos that tourists can enjoy as Sikkim is one of the states where public gambling houses are legal.

Several weekly lottery draws are organised by the Sikkim State Government Lottery. Each lottery has different prices and prizes. Although the prizes offered to the winners are not very massive, winners will have to submit numerous documents to claim the winning amount.

A few incidents have been noted where a person won the prize but later discovered their ticket was fake. This issue is very common in Sikkim and people are advised to buy the tickets only from a certified seller. Buying the tickets online is a big no as it has more chances of being fake.

How To Buy Lottery Tickets Online in Sikkim

There are many licensed and regulated lotto websites that accept Indian players and Indian payment methods. Some of these websites are — Lottoland, Playhugelottos, Lotto247, theLotter and Lottofy. To buy lottery tickets on these websites, follow the steps given below.

1. Select the lotto website and register yourself as a player.
2. Set your payment methods and submit the required information like name, date of birth and email address/phone number.
3. Select the lottery draw from the available options. Most websites also provide guides to playing the lottery for new players.
4. Choose the number of tickets you wish to buy. These websites allow you to manually select the number on your tickets or to randomly pick them.
5. You can also choose the days of the draws you wish to enter, as there are multiple draws in a week for many lotteries.
6. Complete the payment and check the results on the draw date.

International lotteries that are famous amongst Indian punters and offer huge jackpots are — US Powerball, EuroJackpot, EuroMillions, MegaMillions and SuperEnaLotto. Ensure that the website is licensed and regulated by a reputed international authority for your security.

How To Buy Lottery Tickets Offline in Sikkim?

There are nine weekly Dear Lottery draws and fourteen weekly Labhlaxmi Lottery draws. Although there may be vendors who claim to sell official lottery tickets online, always try to purchase them through offline authorised vendors. The state lottery laws do not authorise anyone to sell tickets online. 

All lottery tickets have different purchase prices. They also offer distinct jackpot prizes. For example, the Labhlaxmi weekly lotteries are available in 14 different schemes with 14 different names. However, they all cost INR 10 and offer INR 10,000 as the first prize.

On the other hand, the Dear lottery schemes are a little overpriced at INR 100. But, their winning price is also high, that is, INR 19 Lakh. These are all current lottery schemes which the government keeps replacing after some time. 

The draw results for Sikkim State Lotteries can be checked on the official website. There is an Android app through which players can keep themselves updated with the draws and results. Generally, the draw events are open to the public.

Bottom Line

If you are in Sikkim, you don’t have to worry about breaking the laws as it has the most liberal gambling laws in the country. The state has legalised almost every type of betting or gambling on both platforms including online betting sites & online casinos.

You can participate in any of the lottery schemes run by the state government or buy tickets online for international lottery draws that offer huge jackpots. The choice is yours.