The Current Legal Landscape: PROGA 2025
In 2025, India passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA), which places a nationwide ban on real-money online gaming, betting, and gambling — including formats that were previously treated as legal “skill games” in many states, and including offshore platforms serving Indian users. This replaced the older, fragmented state-by-state system that had governed online betting for years.
Enforcement has been active: Indian authorities have blocked thousands of betting and gambling websites since the law came into force, as part of an ongoing crackdown on unauthorized platforms.
In May 2026, India’s Supreme Court additionally ruled (in State of Tamil Nadu v. Junglee Games) that state governments have the constitutional authority to regulate or prohibit wagering even on games involving skill, such as rummy and poker — reinforcing the broader restrictive direction of Indian gambling policy.
Important caveat:
PROGA’s constitutional validity is currently being challenged before the Supreme Court, and the legal situation is genuinely still evolving. What’s accurate today may change depending on how that challenge is resolved.
Where This Leaves Offshore Betting Exchanges
Platforms like Saffron Exchange operate under international gaming licenses rather than Indian ones — a structure common across the offshore betting industry, since India has not historically issued domestic licenses for online betting exchanges. Under the pre-PROGA system, this created a legal gray area that varied by state. Under PROGA, the national framework is now explicitly restrictive toward real-money online gambling activity, which changes the calculus for both operators and users.
Given the pace of enforcement and the ongoing constitutional challenge, this is an area where relying on outdated “state-by-state” explanations (including older versions of guides like this one) can be actively misleading. If you’re trying to understand your personal legal exposure, a lawyer familiar with current Indian gaming law is the right resource — not a blog post.
What This Means Practically
A few points worth understanding regardless of how the legal challenge resolves:
- The legal environment has tightened substantially in 2026 compared to prior years — assume the situation is more restrictive than older articles or forum posts may suggest.
- Enforcement has focused heavily on platform access itself, with large numbers of sites being blocked at the network level.
- Winnings are taxable income in India regardless of a platform’s legal status, under provisions for winnings from betting and gambling.
- The law is still being tested in court — the Supreme Court challenge to PROGA means the current rules could shift.
How to Evaluate Whether a Platform Is Trustworthy
Legality and trustworthiness are two different questions. Even in a legal gray area, some practical signals separate a platform worth using from one to avoid:
- Consistent, verifiable licensing information stated the same way across every page of the site
- Clear, stated withdrawal times that don’t change from page to page
- Transparent bonus terms rather than inflated claims that seem too good to be true
- Real customer support channels with a track record, not just marketing copy
- No conflicting age requirements or legal claims across different pages of the same site
For a closer look at how Saffronexch specifically holds up against these criteria, see our full safety and legitimacy review.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) Is online cricket betting illegal in India?
Under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA), real-money online betting and gambling — including on offshore platforms — is now prohibited nationwide. This is a significant change from the older state-by-state framework. The law’s constitutional validity is still being challenged, so this page will be updated as the situation develops.
2) Can I get in legal trouble for using a betting exchange?
Enforcement to date has focused heavily on blocking platform access rather than prosecuting individual users, but the legal environment has become substantially more restrictive in 2026. This isn’t legal advice — consult a lawyer familiar with current Indian gaming law if you have concerns.
3) Do I have to pay tax on betting winnings in India?
Yes. Winnings from betting and gambling are treated as taxable income in India regardless of which platform you used.
4) Is Saffron Exchange licensed?
Saffron Exchange operates under an international gaming license rather than an Indian one, which is standard for offshore betting exchanges.
5) What is PROGA and how does it affect betting exchanges?
PROGA is a 2025 national law that bans real-money online gaming and betting across India, including formats previously allowed as “skill games” in some states. It’s currently being challenged in the Supreme Court, so the legal landscape may continue to shift.
Getting Started
Given the current legal landscape, the most important first step is understanding your own situation — including consulting a lawyer if you have specific concerns — before creating any betting ID. If you’ve done that and want to learn more about the platform itself:
Gambling involves risk. Please bet responsibly. If you need help with gambling addiction, contact the national helpline: 1800-522-4700.