One of Six Indian Real Money Gamers Lives in Maharashtra

One of every six real money gamers in India lives in Maharashtra, and the actual figure is even higher as the eastern state provides 17.4 percent of the online casino gaming traffic in the country. The data is supplied by a recently published study on the biggest online gambling states in India conducted by the research team at desi casino comparison platform SevenJackpots.

The paper bases its findings on the analysis of internal primary data from the platform’s Google Analytics organic traffic for a period of six months. The team also examines government and public domain statistics and indexes related to social and economical development, demographics, internet penetration, media exposure, and other aspects to make observations concerning the underlying factors shaping up the study’s primary findings.

The leader in casino app and browser-based gaming traffic Maharashtra is followed at some distance by Telangana which is home to 9.9 percent of registered users.

“Both states are low-poverty and high-income. Maharashtra also has a huge population, with these two States bringing in more than 1/4 of all user visits. Mumbai and Pune residents give greater importance to online gambling as a use of their free time and disposable income,” the study points out.

The next five positions in the online casino traffic generation chart are taken by West Bengal (9.3 percent), Karnataka (9.3 percent), Uttar Pradesh (8.2 percent), Tamil Nadu (8.1 percent), and the National Capital Territory of Delhi (8.1 percent).

A rather striking observation is that both NCT Delhi and Tamil Nadu with their ‘modest’ populations of 18.7 and 77.8 million people respectively supply almost the same number of online real money gamers as the most populated state in India, Uttar Pradesh. As the last census in India was conducted in 2011, the study uses state population estimates from 2019 which show that the Heartland of India had 237.8 residents.

Official statistics show that a whole 29.43 percent of the Uttar Pradesh population lives below the line of poverty, while the same parameters for Delhi and Tamil Nadu are 9.91 and 11.28 percent respectively.

At the same time, Uttar Pradesh has one of the lowest Gross Domestic Products (GDP) per Capita in India of $3,635, while NCT Delhi boasts one of the highest - $19,974, and Tamil Nadu’s GDP per Capita is also not low - $10.587.

These significant variations in social and economic development explain to a large extent why the amounts of registered player traffic by the different states are not dependent on population sizes. Another important factor highlighted by the researchers is the presence of large metropolitan areas: while Maharashtra has Mumbai and Pune, no city in Uttar Pradesh exceeds 3 million inhabitants.

“The States which are home to the leading six Indian cities ensure the majority of online gambling, with 62.1% of all online casino customers. Their evolution into established online gambling communities offers some additional market perspectives: the new generation of real-money gamers has also started adopting a series of online gaming products which were somewhat foreign to Indian culture up until a few years ago,” the study explains.

While traditional Indian games like Teen Patti and Andar Bahar remain popular, classic Western casino products such as roulette and slots have already gained significant traction in the country, largely fueled by a growing demand in big metro areas, especially valid for live-dealer versions.

“These are also online gambling products boosted mostly by their popularity in metropolitan areas. Delhi and Mumbai are exemplary cases for the growth of slots; Hyderabad drives Telangana’s visibility in online roulette, while Bengaluru holds out as a player base for desi table games,” the authors highlight.

Telangana Moves Forward When It Comes to Online Betting on Sports

The analysis of organic traffic data on online sports betting provided by the SevenJackpots research paper reveals that Telangana jumps to the front row and tops Indian digital sportsbooks, supplying more than a fifth or 22 percent of all registered desi online sports punters.

Karnataka follows with 17 percent of the traffic, while Maharashtra shows up only in third place with 9.7 percent of all sports bettors. The next five positions are held by Uttar Pradesh (7.4 percent), Delhi (6.7 percent), Tamil Nadu (6.4 percent), Andhra Pradesh (5.6 percent), and West Bengal (5.2 percent).

“In 2017, Telangana outlawed online gambling and betting; Andhra Pradesh followed suit in 2020. Popular games and betting became unavailable within state limits, but players found alternatives online,” the research team concludes. “Limitations made these States rise in online gambling rankings (especially Telangana).”

Sports betting is a huge industry in India with an estimated annual size anywhere between $100 and $150 billion. At the same time, the turnovers going through legal sportsbook channels are reported to be as low as $2 billion per year, or only a small fraction of the total market value.

Content Produced by Indian Clicks, LLC