Cryptocurrencies have a somewhat checkered relationship with India. India’s government and her central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), are on the fence about Bitcoin and crypto in general. We’ve already seen one back and forth about banning crypto entirely, and it’s still not clear what will be decided in the end.
But at the same time, ordinary Indians have no hesitation about embracing cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. That’s what’s led Crypto Millions Lotto to launch Bitcoin lottery games for India and join the ranks of those offering Indians an easy entrance to owning Bitcoin.
Crypto Millions Lotto pays out jackpots in Bitcoin, and those jackpots are unusually large, with prizes soaring as high as $1 billion and sometimes even higher. The platform just announced that its launching four new games, two of them aimed at players in India, while also opening up access to players in 180 countries around the world.
India’s uncertain relationship with Bitcoin
India saw an astonishingly fast uptake for cryptocurrencies, to the extent that the government and the RBI grew alarmed that crypto could harm revenue in the local currency. That was the backdrop to the RBI seriously considering banning all crypto from the country in July 2019, but in March 2020, India’s Supreme Court firmly put a stop to that possibility.
For now, Bitcoin in India is legal, but unregulated. That means that people have nowhere to turn when they fall victim to the many crypto scams going on, plus it opens up a risk that people could lose their Bitcoin fortunes if crypto is banned suddenly, which isn’t impossible.
There’s a new bill which could ban private cryptocurrencies but permit an official crypto coin, which would be a blow to Bitcoin owners, but fortunately, another proposed bill would set the stage for accepting all cryptocurrencies by requiring companies to declare their crypto holdings.
Yet despite this uncertainty, crypto in general and Bitcoin in particular are still very popular, especially among young people and urban populations.
Bitcoin is riding a wave of popularity in India
The numbers highlight just how much Indians are embracing crypto. Between April 2020 and May 2021, total investment in crypto in India grew by over $5.6 billion, from just $923 million to nearly $6.6 billion.
India has more crypto owners than any other country, boasting 10.07 crore (100.7 million) of them but only 80 million people registered with India’s stock exchange. It comes in 5th in terms of crypto owners as a percentage of the total population, with 7.3% of Indians owning crypto, while Ukraine, which tops the list, has 12.73%. Bitcoin outstrips all the other cryptocurrencies that Indians buy and trade, holding 75% of the market share.
Bitcoin lotteries are attractive to the crypto-curious
There is a number of reasons why Indians are drawn to crypto lotteries like Crypto Millions Lotto. For a start, gambling of any kind, including lotteries, is banned by the national Public Gambling Act 1987 but that doesn’t include online gambling. Fewer than half the country’s states and territories permit people to buy physical lottery tickets, and even there, only tickets for the official state lottery are permitted. But even the most conservative states permit lotteries as long as you buy a ticket on an international website, and the platform is based outside of India.
It helps that Bitcoin lotteries give more privacy and anonymity. It’s a lot easier to keep your winnings quiet on a Bitcoin lottery, and because the money goes straight into a crypto wallet without touching any bank account, you could even avoid having to declare them. That’s definitely a plus when there’s a risk that crypto could be banned at any time, because no one needs to know about your crypto wallet.
Running a lottery on cryptocurrency infrastructure also means that Bitcoin lotteries can charge lower fees than fiat currency lotteries, because all the payment processing is carried out internally, plus payouts are faster and more secure because of the untraceable crypto wallet architecture.
On top of that, India doesn’t currently recognize Bitcoin (or other crypto) as a currency, so playing a Bitcoin lottery is seen as playing with play money. That helps save you from getting into any legal trouble for playing a lottery in areas that are strongly anti-gambling.
Some Bitcoin lottery sites let you play for free, either by using Bitcoin mining, or like Crypto Millions Lotto by inviting a friend. If the friend you invited wins a Crypto Millions Lotto jackpot, you get a slice of the cash too. You do need to select your Bitcoin lottery platform with care, though; many free lottery sites have tiny payouts, but others, like Crypto Millions Lotto, offer really massive jackpots.
Bitcoin lotteries aren’t guaranteed, but they are appealing
Before you start playing a Bitcoin lottery, it’s important to choose a reliable platform, like Crypto Millions Lotto, that has proven fairness and allows you to verify that the result was truly random.
With Bitcoin so popular in India, it seems unlikely that the government will really decide to ban crypto, despite what has happened in the past. Crypto Millions Lotto is leading the way for bitcoin lotteries to enter and help encourage a large and growing crypto market.
