Howzat? The clamour to legalise sports betting wagering in India

Published

5 February 2016

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By Sameer Hashmi

Mumbai Business press reporter

It is the last over of the cricket match, with India needing 17 runs to win against Australia.

In his two-bedroom house located in main Mumbai, a middle-aged man is watching the video game, nervously. He's resting on the edge of his grey colour sofa with his cellphone glued to his ideal hand.

He has made more than 10 hire the last 30 minutes - not to go over the match but to keep revising his bet.

Five minutes previously his money was on Australia, and now as the Indian batsman prepares yourself to deal with the last over he's changed his mind.

"I believe India is winning, make the modification," he tells his bookmaker on the phone.

And a couple of minutes later his forecast comes to life, as India wins the match in a nail-biting surface.

"I have made $200 today," he says with a childlike glee.

For more than 3 decades he's been banking on cricket matches. We can't reveal his name as what he's doing is unlawful in India.

Besides horse racing, sports betting wagering of any kind is not enabled in India. Despite that, prohibited wagering syndicates prosper in the nation.

'Black cash'

According to the Doha-based International Centre for sports betting Security, India's prohibited sports betting wagering market deserves 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 wager on anything related to the cricket match, from who is winning to the greatest individual run scorer.

Most of these deals include so-called "black money", which is cash not declared to the taxman.

The 1867 Public Gambling Act bars any sort of sports betting in India, however unlike in the US which has a law restricting web gambling, there is nothing comparable here.

And overseas wagering companies are utilizing this loophole to draw Indians. Even though there are no online wagering operators based out of India, a lot people have registered accounts with overseas companies.

"Legally you can escape [with this], as the law is ambiguous for online sports betting," says Mumbai- based attorney HP Ranina.

But despite this, it is "offline sports betting", done through phone calls which dominate the market.

Calls for legalisation

The clamour to legalise sports betting in cricket has grown after a panel selected by India's Supreme Court proposed the idea, stating it would help clamp down on corruption in the nation's preferred sport.

The Justice RM Lodha Commission was established to recommend changes in the functioning of India's cricket regulative body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after the 2013 Indian Premier League wagering scandal came to light.

Two franchises have been prohibited for 2 years after some gamers and team authorities were discovered guilty of fixing parts of the match at the request of bookies.

The panel likewise argues that legalised wagering will bring in tax revenues for the exchequer that might total up to $2bn a year.

Even gamblers feel that legalising sports betting wagering is a move in the best direction.

"I do not mind paying some cash out my revenues, as long as I can bet publicly," says our cricket bettor.

It would also open a substantial service chance for licensed bookmakers and international online sports betting companies to establish operations in India.

And it would assist limit match fixing in cricket and other sports betting, argue lots of, by assisting make deals included in gambling more transparent.

"If you work alongside wagering business, you will have a very efficient method of stamping out match fixing," says George Oborne, who runs a mock wagering site, India Bet.

But numerous likewise think, that the taxes levied on the bettor and the bookie will need to be sensible to make it attractive enough for them to gamble legally.

However, there are constraints.

"Definitely there will be illegal wagering since (some) people would not wish to leave an audit trail by getting in the white market," states Mr Oborne.

He adds that people who utilize unaccounted cash to place big bets will never gamble legally.

Approval concern

For sports betting to be legalised, parliamentary approval will be required to produce a brand-new law, and politically this will be a tough concept to sell.

"Even though lots of people are associated with some sort of gambling - it's still a questionable issue for numerous," says our unnamed punter.

And offered 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 procedure is so long and difficult that it will take years," states Mr Ranina."That's why, we are negative about this becoming a reality anytime quickly."

Yet with the concept having been endorsed by an official panel for the first time, at least a dispute has sparked around a topic - which previously was considered a taboo.