The best and most popular online casino games in India

Any analysis of the most popular online casino games in India should start with understanding of the market’s potential: online gambling market revenue is expected to reach €3.42 billion by 2028, showing a 6.58% annual growth rate. A country of tremendous opportunity, India has the largest population in the world — over 1.4 billion people — and offers enormous business opportunities. Read on to find out what the best online casino games in India are.

Indian market overview

Gambling is popular throughout Asia, and India is no exception, with a few elements of the market contributing to its growing appeal for operators. The country’s population is already the world’s biggest. Add that to rapidly expanding internet connectivity, state-level gambling regulation, and widespread access to all kinds of devices, and the country’s iGaming prospects start to look very promising.

Both land-based and online gambling are regulated locally by state authorities in India. Different regions also have different requirements for operators, including those for acquiring a gambling license.

The states of Sikkim and Goa, as well as the union territory of Daman and Diu, allow offline and online casino games, such as roulette and blackjack; skill games, such as poker, are regulated in Sikkim and Nagaland. Bingo and lotteries are an exception from general rules, and are regulated centrally by the country government.

The states of Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi, Sikkim, and Tamil Nadu regulate horse racing betting. Virtual sports are regulated and licensed in Nagaland, and Rajasthan has issued a draft bill proposing to regulate fantasy sports.

However, players are not targeted by the law, meaning if they don’t find their favorite online casino games in India, they may access foreign or offshore casino games if they wish.

Demographics in India

The key to the country’s high revenues is its population: India is home to more than 1.4 billion people. According to studies, 80% of the adult population gamble at least once a year, and 82 out of every 100 people use mobile phones. The internet is becoming more and more accessible each year — 46% of the population were connected to the internet in 2021, and more and more people are going online with their mobile and desktop devices.

Another interesting fact is that India is a multilingual nation. English and Hindi are the two most popular languages across the country, and the other commonly spoken languages are Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, and Urdu. The best online casino games in India are also those that offer localization.

How to succeed in the Indian market

Despite the enormous population and high demand for gambling, the average Indian player is not wealthy, and the most common strategy here is to go quantity — attracting such massive traffic requires a good marketing strategy and knowledge of local specifics.

First of all, Indians are active mobile phone users. Our experience has shown that offering mobile games and adjusting your website to portrait orientation are a must in 2024.

To successfully establish and develop an online casino or expand an already running business into the Indian market, operators need to find a way to attract Indian players and keep them entertained — simply put, to give them what they demand.

To better understand what games your Indian players would like the most, we recommend you look to game content providers that have experience with Asian markets and can offer you the best options according to their statistics. Get a list of gaming content providers here to find out what they offer.

Though searching for the right providers is a good idea, it will take time and money. We suggest you streamline your development process by cooperating with an aggregator. Having all the options at hand is always a good way to facilitate planning your project, especially when all those options are carefully selected according to your business objectives and the demands of your target market — and are available through a single integration process.

Another thing to keep in mind is localization. Translate your website navigation and content to local languages, or at least English — 128.5 million Indians speak English — and offer players payments in Rupees and cryptocurrencies, which by now have become a universal and necessary payment method.

Besides the variety of games and a choice of languages and currencies for players convenience, online casinos in India offer players bonuses, loyalty rewards, cashback, free spins, and personalized offers.

The most popular national games in India

Let’s get to the most popular casino games in India. Indian players respect traditions and will most probably look for a few national favorites: Teen Patti, Andar Bahar, and Rummy, as well as such classics as baccarat and bets on cricket and Kabaddi.

Baccarat

Baccarat is popular across the globe, and the Indian audience loves it as well. It’s a casino card game played between the player and the banker. The bets are placed on which hand will have a total value closest to nine when the cards are added up.

Teen Patti

Teen Patti is also called Indian poker or flush, and as the name implies, it originated from the Indian continent, where it remains very popular among locals. The typical game involves three to six players using a standard 52-card deck, excluding jokers. Each player is dealt three cards face-down, with the objective being to obtain the strongest three-card hand. Hand rankings mirror those of poker.

Andar Bahar

Andar Bahar is one of the most widely spread Indian casino games. It’s a simple game of chance with a 52-card deck. Typically involving a player and a dealer, the game revolves around drawing a single card, referred to as the "Joker" or "trump" card, from the deck. Participants wager on whether the subsequent card drawn will land "Andar" (inside) or "Bahar" (outside) of the initial card's value.

Players in India are enthusiastic about sports. They love following and betting on sports, especially football and racing games. Virtual sports, which are inspired by real events and have increasingly lifelike graphics and animation, are also commonly bet on. In fact, virtual football is one of the most popular types of online gambling in India. The outcome of virtual matches is based on statistics and a set number of potential outcomes, and decided by a Random Number Generator (RNG). Virtual football matches are much shorter than real ones, they are accessible at any time, and thousands of matches can take place across a single day, providing nearly limitless opportunities to bet. You can read more about virtual sports in this article.

Kabaddi

Kabaddi is a contact sport that has its roots in ancient India and has spread across South Asia. Players from two teams have to tag or touch members of the opposing team and return to their own field without being tackled. It’s common to place bets on Kabaddi in India.

Cricket

Indian players also actively bet on cricket. Cricket came to India and many other countries in the world from England. It’s a bat-and-ball game played in teams. Each team takes turns batting and bowling, with the aim of scoring more runs than the opposition.

Top international games in India

The best international online casino games in India are also classics offered worldwide.

Rummy

Rummy enjoys widespread popularity across the globe. Using a standard 52-card deck, the game involves two or more players who try to arrange cards into sets and runs within their hands, creating melds. Players take turns drawing and discarding cards, with the goal of refining their hand and minimizing unpaired cards. Play persists until a player effectively melds all their cards, declares "Rummy," and clinches victory for the round.

Blackjack

Blackjack is a classic online casino card game where players aim to beat the dealer's hand without exceeding a total of 21 points.

Poker

Poker is popular in India as an integral part of the culture. Card games in general were always a part of family and social gatherings. Poker is typically based on betting on the strength of the player's hand, and the goal is to either have the best hand at the showdown or bluff opponents into folding.

Slots

Online casino slot games are popular in India, just like in the rest of the world. It’s an eternal classic of online casinos — people of all age groups and nationalities enjoy spinning slots of various themes, including different ethnic styles, popular legend, movie, or book plots, familiar fruits and diamonds, and many other motifs. Indians love such themes as Bollywood, Hindu gods, national celebrations, and national symbols like peacocks, elephants, and lotus flowers.

Live dealer games

Live versions of the above-mentioned Andar Bahar, Teen Patti, and baccarat, as well as other classic online casino games such as roulette, blackjack, and poker are highly demanded in India. Indian players like the feeling of personal involvement and interaction between participants. Besides, taking into account that land-based casinos are illegal in most states of India, live dealers are a way to try real experience from home.

Lotteries

Simple and familiar games are popular as a quick entertainment and a way to earn easy money, including online scratch cards and instant win games.

Offline and online bingo are quite popular casino games in India, making bingo software very much worth considering.

Casino gaming market trends in India

According to Statista, online gambling market revenues in India are expected to grow by 6% annually between 2024 and 2029, reaching a market volume of $3.88 billion in 2029.

The population of India is growing, and the state-level gambling legislation system allows every region to consider regulations based on local demand. This means there are good odds of even bigger market growth.

Indians enjoy games of chance, a great majority of them are connected to the internet and own mobile devices, and there is also a high percentage of English speakers — which facilitates online casino promotion. The Slotegrator team expects the market to develop even more, and with the use of cryptocurrencies nothing will stop local players from using international gambling platform services.

What can Slotegrator do for you?

We’ve provided a list of the most popular games in India in this article. However, our expensive experience showed that offering a wide range of different types of games is one of the most important aspects of online casino success. Don’t limit yourself to the above-mentioned games; it’s better to give players a choice so that they stay on your platform even if they want to try something different.

Slotegrator is an aggregator and online casino software developer with 12 years of successful experience in the iGaming industry. Our international team consists of 350+ professionals helping businessmen around the globe develop their iGaming projects. Our experience helps us understand what online casinos actually need at any stage of development, from setup and launch to operation and expansion.

License

Each jurisdiction has different licensing conditions and applies different regulatory requirements. This aspect of operating an online casino is very complex and demands a careful study of the target markets, local and international legislation, tax policies, and many other things. If it seems complicated, don’t worry — we know the ins and outs of several licensing jurisdictions, and that’s why we provide operators with qualified assistance.

Branded and functional platform

Your platform’s design is of crucial importance. Players should not have to look for a way to gamble; they should be provided with an easy-to-use and visually appealing website that will attract their attention. Also, when it comes to marketing, brand awareness is something that will help you retain users.

Game content

The platform must be filled with a diverse and constantly expanding collection of games. Selection of gaming content depends on the target audience you are planning to attract, but no matter what, high-quality games are an absolute must. Slotegrator’s partner network features a long list of internationally recognized game providers with years of experience.

Marketing tools

Bonus systems, affiliate programs, cross selling, and other tools and strategies are very helpful in building up the platform’s brand awareness and reputation. In an industry defined by high competition and constant, rapid change, each online casino must find a way to grow successfully. We recommend you contact professionals to benefit from their experience, instead of learning from your own trials and errors.