For Sports Gambling to Be Legalised
Howzat? The clamour to legalise sports betting wagering in India
Published
5 February 2016
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By Sameer Hashmi
Mumbai Business reporter
It is the last over of the cricket match, with India requiring 17 runs to win versus Australia.
In his two-bedroom home located in main Mumbai, a middle-aged guy is seeing the video game, nervously. He’s sitting on the edge of his grey colour couch with his glued to his best hand.
He has made more than 10 calls in the last thirty minutes – not to go over the match however to keep modifying his bet.
Five minutes earlier his money was on Australia, now as the Indian batsman gets all set to deal with the last over he’s changed his mind.
“I think India is winning, make the change,” he tells his bookie on the phone.
And a couple of minutes later his prediction comes true, as India wins the match in a nail-biting surface.
“I have made $200 today,” he states with a childish glee.
For more than 3 years he’s been banking on cricket matches. We can’t expose his name as what he’s doing is prohibited in India.
Besides horse racing, sports betting of any kind is not permitted in India. Despite that, illegal sports betting distributes grow in the nation.
‘Black cash’
According to the Doha-based International Centre for sports betting Security, India’s prohibited sports betting market is worth some $150bn a year. And much of that sports betting cash is directed towards cricket.
Without any legal avenue, punters put bets using their phones by making calls to bookmakers. Gamblers can bet on anything associated to the cricket match, from who is winning to the highest individual run scorer.
Most of these transactions involve so-called “black cash”, which is cash not declared to the taxman.
The 1867 Public Gambling Act bars any type of gaming in India, but unlike in the US which has a law prohibiting internet gambling, there is nothing comparable here.
And overseas sports betting business are using this loophole to entice Indians. Although there are no online wagering operators based out of India, a lot people have signed up accounts with offshore firms.
“Legally you can escape [with this], as the law is ambiguous for online gambling,” says Mumbai- based legal representative HP Ranina.
But despite this, it is “offline gaming”, done through phone calls which dominate the market.
Require legalisation
The clamour to legalise sports betting in cricket has grown after a panel appointed by India’s Supreme Court proposed the idea, stating it would help secure down on corruption in the country’s favourite sport.
The Justice RM Lodha Commission was established to recommend changes in the functioning of India’s cricket regulatory body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after the 2013 Indian Premier League sports betting scandal came to light.
Two franchises have been prohibited for two years after some players and team officials were condemned of fixing parts of the match at the wish of bookmakers.
The panel also argues that legalised wagering will generate tax profits for the exchequer that could total up to $2bn a year.
Even bettors feel that legalising sports betting wagering is a relocation in the right direction.
“I do not mind paying some money out my profits, as long as I can bet publicly,” says our cricket gambler.
It would likewise open a huge organization chance for licensed bookmakers and international online wagering business to set up operations in India.
And it would assist limit match fixing in cricket and other sports betting, argue numerous, by helping make transactions associated with gambling more transparent.
“If you work alongside sports betting business, you will have a really efficient method of stamping out match fixing,” states George Oborne, who runs a mock sports betting website, India Bet.
But many also think, that the taxes imposed on the gambler and the bookie will need to be sensible to make it appealing enough for them to bet lawfully.
However, there are constraints.
“Definitely there will be illegal wagering due to the fact that (some) people would not desire to leave an audit trail by going into the white market,” states Mr Oborne.
He adds that people who utilize unaccounted money to position huge bets will never ever gamble legally.
Approval question
For sports betting to be legalised, parliamentary approval will be needed to create a brand-new law, and politically this will be a tough idea to offer.
“Even though many individuals are included in some sort of gaming – it’s still a questionable issue for lots of,” says our unnamed punter.
And considered that India has a federal structural – each state will need to likewise pass a different law to legalise sports betting gambling in their area.
“The process is so long and tricky that it will take years,” states Mr Ranina.”That’s why, we are cynical about this becoming a truth anytime quickly.”
Yet with the concept having been backed by an official panel for the very first time, a minimum of an argument has sparked around a topic – which previously was considered a taboo.
