Is Gambling Legal In Pakistan

In spite of Pakistan being a Muslim country, and one that has some very conservative laws towards gambling, they actually do have some forms of legal gambling here. For instance, they allow betting on horse races, based upon a particular interpretation of Islamic law.

Summary: It is illegal to gamble in Pakistan but are have no law or Acts to address gambling “online”. Thus this has not stopped the near 200 million Pakistanis from taking part in such activities. Recent studies have shown Pakistan to be the in the top 60 countries where betting activities occur even though it is not legal. Gambling Laws and Regulations 2021. ICLG - Gambling covers common issues in gambling laws and regulations – including relevant authorities and legislation, application for a licence, licence restrictions, digital media, enforcement and liability – in 37 jurisdictions.

“Full Brief on the Laws of Gambling in Pakistan”

The introduction of online betting sites around 1998 was a huge break for both Pakistani bookmakers and punters. The odds were now widely known on the internet. This reduced their reliance on Mumbai bookmakers who until this point controlled cricket odds and were alleged to be heavily involved in match fixing themselves. But, it still did not make online gambling legal, it is not in Pakistan.

Many of the online betting sites are owned by UK bookmakers, and bookmaking is fully legal in the United Kingdom. www.betfair.com is a betting site that launched in 2000. They are peer to peer betting exchange that takes more volume on cricket betting than other source. Their company has a team that monitors suspicious betting activity and works closely with sports bodies, gambling regulators, police and other law enforcement. When suspecting a fix, they have numerous times refused to pay out bets until a match was cleared by the governing sports body.

Even with regulation, match fixing still occurs. I have a detailed article on match betting fixing that covers many instances including the recent spot-fixing scandal Pakistan was involved in. However, many sports bodies are in favour of legal gambling. While still Chief Executive of International Cricket Council (ICC) Haroon Lorgat commented he would like for India to legalize cricket betting to help reduce match fixing. Another former ICC chief Ehsan Mani also urged India to legalise cricket betting. While there is much talk in India, at this time cricket betting remains illegal in Pakistan and in our neighbouring countries.

What Are the Gambling Laws?

The law that makes gambling illegal in Pakistan is the Prevention of Gambling Act, 1977. The penalties are up to a 1000 PKR fine and up to one year in prison for gambling. There are many articles that falsely claim small time gamblers are never arrested under this law, or they even say it does not apply to the internet.

Only in December, 2012 multiple people were arrested for gambling. It has been legally interpreted that connecting to a computer network (the internet) for online betting is in fact operating a gambling den. There are also other ways gamblers are prosecuted. One such charge is illicit conduct and another is money laundering. Both have been used to prosecute casual bettors.

Even though the laws are strict there are only a few hundred Pakistanis arrested per year for internet gambling with foreign bookmakers. This is a very small because our population is very large. Those who are careful are not caught. For those who are careful the risks are low.

How Pakistanis Gamble Online

The majority of our people do online betting with website legal in the United Kingdom. www.bet365.com is popular for the vast amount of cricket odds they offer both in-play and prematch. Betfair and Ladbrokes are two other sites Pakistani punters use. All have Pakistan banking options, and also have casino games and online poker too from the same website.

Of the many options to deposit are Skrill and Western Union. Skrill is an e-wallet that is very popular. Accounts are opened online at www.skrill.com. For players to connect their bank account they need to know their swift code. They get this by calling their bank or from this webpage. Pakistan Skrill accounts take a while to setup. Once set up, they are easy to move money between Bet365, Betfair, and Ladbrokes and to and from Pakistan bank accounts.

The other option Western Union is a little more risky when using Ladbrokes and Betfair. This is because such payments are sent in their company name, so the agent knows this is for gambling. This is why many use Hundi to transfer to these sites. They do so even though they know Hundiwalas operate illegally and could get caught at anytime. A much safer option is using BetOnline.ag.

Betonline.ag is based in Panama and accepts players from all countries, heavily targeted towards “illegal” US customers. When depositing to them via Western Union, the transfer is sent to a personal name – not a company name like Betfair and Ladbrokes use. Pakistanis can open an account on their website and then contacting live chat to ask for Western Union deposit instructions. Because a personal name is given it is then possible to use legal Western Union agents to transfer. BetOnline sends winnings to Pakistan using Western Union too.

Conclusion: The Future of Online Betting in Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the fastest multiplying countries in the world with our population increasing by more than 2% per year. It is expected by 2030 we will surpass Indonesia to become the largest Islamic country. We are also a young country due to fast birth rate. Our median age is only 20 and there are over 104 million of us age 30 or less.

The bulk of our population has been exposed to gambling that is legal under the laws of the land. They are born into a nation that has access to prize-bonds and horse race betting. The internet also makes is easy to do other forms of betting such a cricket, other sports, casino and poker. Although it means abandoning Sunnah, like it or not, gambling is now part of Pakistan culture. It is here already and online betting will only become more popular in time.

Gambling Law In Pakistan

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Members of Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) in a drive last night arrested two admins of an online gambling site from north Jamsing area in Savar.

The arrestees were identified as Md Sabbir Ahmed Kawsar (19) and Md Monowar Hossain (26), said a press release issued by ATU.

Seven smartphones and 14 sim cards were recovered from their possession, the release added.

Betting

Gambling site 1xbet Bangladesh was found active on their smartphones during the drive, added the release.

A case under the Digital Security Act is under process with Savar Police Station against the arrestees on charge of deceiving people in an online platform.