Sports-Betting

When Cricket betting scam came into open during IPL 2013. SC court had appointed a committee headed by Justice  RM Lodha to suggest the reforms in the working of BCCI .  Afterwards in the report submitted by Lodha Committee, there was one suggestion in the report that the govt should legalise sports betting. SC that time made a observation that legalising the betting will involve enactment of law and Law Commission should look into it.So at last, on  yesterday Law Commission opened a window for next 30 days, to solicit citizens view on legalised  sports betting and gambling. I would like to air my views on this matter

1.Govt has allowed betting in race course and winnings there attract tax.

2. Illegal betting in the country is going on for decades, i remember when I was schooling in 60s there used to betting on the numbers of the opening and closing rates of New York cotton, then afterwards came matka betting, which is continuing in certain sectors even now.

3. Some states are running their own lottery system in the form of daily/weekly/monthly, which is also a type of gambling. Now a days some lotteries take out numbers every hour/every day- you can bet your number in advance before the set time.

4.What about off shore Casinos in Goa, they are also a form of gambling.

5.If you look back into Indian history some part of gambling was always there when Indian states  were ruled by Kings and Sultans. Classic example is Pandavas loosing Draupadi in gambling to Kauravas.

6. With the advent of mobile phones illegal betting business is booming like mad, and it reaches its highest peak during IPL.

7.There are so many private clubs in the country, where illegal gambling always takes place in the form of playing cards and many other indoor games.

So it is high time govt should look into this. In my opinion they should legalise at least sports betting to start with and keep looking into how to legalise gambling. As collection of taxes will be easier from official bookies, and tax on net winnings should be not very high so that again it should not to lead to illegal betting. Personally I feel tax should be in the range of 5 to 10% on net winnings. There will be increase in govt revenue due to this, presently govt earns nothing from illegal betting and gambling.

So my friends,  what is your opinion on this, please comment.