PayU in Indian Casinos

Update, November 2026: Online casinos and other real-money games are now banned across India. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 became law on 22 August 2025, and it has been fully in force with its rules since 1 May 2026. Banks and payment services, PayU included, are barred from processing payments to real-money gaming sites, and the authorities have blocked thousands of gambling websites. The law targets operators, advertisers and payment providers rather than players. If you still choose to play at an offshore casino, know the risks: your payment can be declined or reversed, your bank or wallet account can be flagged or frozen, and blocked casino sites can disappear with your balance. These casinos are not licensed in India, so you have no local protection if one refuses to pay you, and gambling winnings are taxable in India.

This page explains how PayU, an Indian payment gateway, works for online payments in rupees. It has been used for deposits at international online casinos, but since August 2025 the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 has banned online real-money games across India, so please read the legal section before you consider any online casino. The later sections explain how the gateway works and how deposits have been made with it.

Online Gambling Regulation in India

A law from 1867, the Public Gambling Act, bans running or using common gaming houses, and India's states have their own gambling laws on top of it. That mix of laws is why the rules for gambling in India have always varied by state.

Before the 2025 Act, India's states could make their own gambling laws, and after seeing players' interest in online gambling, some of them legalized some online gambling verticals. Because online cricket betting was a hit with players, some states permitted it, and online sports betting was permitted in Sikkim, for instance. The national Act now applies on top of those state rules and bans online money games across India.

As far as online casino gambling goes, the position is now clear. For years there was a debate over whether the 1867 Public Gambling Act, written before the internet, applied online. That debate has been overtaken by the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which received presidential assent on 22 August 2025 and prohibits online money games, including their advertising and promotion. We do not suggest there is any way round the ban, and operators that accept players from India are not licensed in India.

The Indian authorities issue warnings against illegal online gambling and block sites that offer it to Indians. Offering or facilitating online money games can lead to imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to one crore rupees, or both. Earlier, India had explored a law to regulate online betting and gambling at the federal level, but the law it passed in 2025 banned them instead.

For the time being, therefore, there is no licensed online casino option in India. International online casino sites that accept Indian players offer all kinds of games, but they are not licensed in India and using them carries legal risk. We do not recommend them, and we cannot say how the Act will be applied to individual players.

Payments are the other part of the picture. Many Indian payment services appear on international sites. One of them is PayU, a payment gateway, but under the 2025 Act it cannot be used to pay real-money gaming sites in India. The rest of this page explains what PayU is and how it works for ordinary online payments.

PayU is a payment gateway: a merchant collects money through it from cards, net banking or UPI, so you see PayU at checkout. It is not a wallet where you hold a balance. According to PayU's own about page, it serves businesses across India in Indian rupees. It holds Reserve Bank of India authorisation as an online payment aggregator, with final approval in May 2025.

Using PayU Across Indian Online Casinos

PayU has been operating in India since 2011 and offers merchants a range of payment methods. Its Indian business is run by PayU Payments Private Limited. The company acquired the Indian payment brand Citrus Pay in 2016 and the authentication provider Wibmo in 2019. It is authorised by the Reserve Bank of India as a payment aggregator (online, May 2025).

PayU offers buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) options, including LazyCard with LazyPay, as Yahoo Finance reported, alongside cards and cardless options. These are ordinary online-shopping features; they do not change the legal position for gaming payments.

You do not create a PayU account to pay a merchant through it; at checkout you choose a card, a net banking option, UPI or a BNPL service and approve the payment with your own provider. Whether a payment to a given merchant goes through is up to the merchant, PayU and your bank. For gaming merchants in India it will not, because real-money gaming payments are barred.

PayU does not support deposits at real-money gaming sites in India, so we do not give casino deposit steps.

Depositing and Withdrawing with PayU

As a payment gateway, PayU is the bridge that connects you, your payment method and a merchant, in Indian rupees. It is used by online shops and services. It cannot be used to pay real-money gaming sites in India, and international sites that take Indian players are not licensed there.

We do not point you to any online casino that accepts PayU. Payments to real-money gaming sites are barred under the 2025 Act.

PayU is a payment gateway for payments in one direction, from you to a merchant, so it is not a withdrawal method. In India it also cannot process real-money gaming payments.

Other Indian payment methods face the same restriction: banks and payment intermediaries are barred from processing real-money gaming payments. See our UPI page for how that applies to UPI.

Conclusion

PayU is an Indian payment gateway that connects shoppers, their payment method and a merchant in rupees. It is not a way to pay online casinos: since the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, banks and payment services are barred from processing payments to real-money gaming sites in India. If you gamble offshore anyway, you have no Indian licence or protection to fall back on, and winnings are taxable in India.

Other ways to pay in India

We also review these payment methods for players in India: Visa Debit, Amazon Pay, AstroPay Card, Payz, Netbanking, PhonePe, Google Pay, Jeton, Mastercard Debit, PayPal, Paytm, Skrill and UPI.