Cubeia to launch RMG poker in India
Cubeia VP insists RMG offering is legal due to skill game consideration with site due to go live in Q1 2014
Stockholm-based Cubeia has announced plans to launch a real-money online poker site in India with its vice-president Lars Nilsson stressing to eGaming Review the site won’t fall foul of local laws banning online gambling.
Cubeia yesterday unveiled plans to integrate its real money network with payment providers in the South Asian country and has lined-up Thrill Poker as the first operator to go live in Q1 2014.
And despite gambling being prohibited in India, it insists the country’s gambling law makes an exception for games of skill such as rummy, chess and billiards.
Cubeia are confident that its product is fully compliant with local law and Cubeia VP Lars Nilsson told eGaming Review that Indian courts now classify poker as a game of skill and is considered in the same class as rummy.
The company has also gone to every effort to ensure it uses local payment providers.”We’ll be using Indian banks, and Indian payment providers, all of whom are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India,” Nilsson said.
“Thrill Poker has worked extensively with tax authorities and attorneys in India to ensure that everything we do is within the legal framework of taxation, and that all taxes on winnings – over a certain amount – are paid directly by the network, leaving our customers to enjoy a hassl- free gaming experience.”
The network is based upon the open source platform Cubeia Poker and, according to the company, is one the first pure-HTML5 poker clients to land enter the Indian market.
“It is an exciting new market with huge potential and I believe our HTML5 solution is perfectly placed to capture the growing interest in poker,” Nilsson added.