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Gambling has been practiced in India since time immemorial and has a clear mention in the epic Mahabharata as well, albeit in a negative sense. But times have changed and Gambling has taken many forms right from Poker, Horse Racing, Lottery and its most prevalent form- Sports Betting. In the recent years Sports Betting has rose to quite a prominence with the advent of the Internet. The Government has, so far, not only failed to legalize and regulate this industry but has also been unable to put and end to this practice and there is huge illegal Sports Betting in India which exists despite being outlawed by the Government. There are many facets to this issue which need to be looked at in a new light.

In order to understand the various arguments both for and against the legalization of gambling in India the article titled Should Gambling be legalized? by Sanju George, Richard Velleman and Benedict Weobong is a very good document. It goes through the history of gambling in India, its present status, the probable revenue it might be able to generate and it also gives arguments both in favor and against the legalization of gambling in India. The article provides a comprehensive view of the status and possibilities of gambling and sports betting in India. The research piece in env media titled SPORTS BETTING, INDIA’S FAVORITE INVISIBLE GIANT is a research article probing every angle of gambling and sports betting in India. It goes through the current scale of betting industry in India, the advent of online betting in the country and the current legal status of betting in the country. It also sheds light on the fantasy betting industry which is growing really quickly in India, the age group of people involved in gambling and both the positive and negative cultural perceptions of the people surrounding gambling and sports betting. The article titled Current Legal Framework for Sports Betting in India on India CSR Network provides information about the current legal status of sports betting in India, the laws governing the matter. It also looks at the potential of gambling and sports betting in the country and makes a case for the legalization and regulation of sports betting in the country.

Archaic Legislation

Every piece of law or legislation enacted in a democratic country should be aimed at providing freedom and autonomy to its citizens as long as they aren’t causing any harm to their fellow citizens and these laws should change as and when the character of the society changes with changing times. While that has been the case with a number of laws in the country which have gone through modifications, the Public Gambling Act, 1867 is an exception. The law was enacted in erstwhile British India, over 150 years ago and has a lot of Victorian morality at its core. This law is also rendered redundant by the advent of online gambling as it naturally finds no mention in this legislation. There is also a dubious distinction in this legislation between Sports of Chance and Sports of Skill, and the it outlaws the Sports based on luck/chance. The issue here is that the line between the two is vague and not at all clear. This law also goes against the basic idea in Jurisprudence that the state must not outlaw any activity which does not have a net negative effect on a large section on the population.

Law Commission Report

The 276^th Law Commission report titled “ LEGAL FRAMEWORK: GAMBLING AND SPORTS BETTING INCLUDING IN CRICKERT IN INDIA” recommends the need to legalize and regulate betting and gambling in India. The report looks at the history of Gambling in the country and also other parts of the world. It has looked at the existing laws in regard to Gambling and Betting and concluded that they have failed to put a complete ban on betting and gambling and these activities keep taking place, contributing to black money generation and circulation. The committee also concluded that it is not at all possible to put a blanket ban on Gambling and Betting and hence it needs to be legalized and regulated.

The commission put forward a number of recommendations in the report, the important ones are-:

1.Parliament can enact legislations regarding betting and gambling under entry 31 of List 1 of the seventh schedule of the constitution since these activities are performed over the media.

2. The skill-based games should be kept out of the arena of prohibition.

3.Licenses should be issued and only the licensed operators should be allowed to provide the gambling and betting services.

4.The commission also suggested to make a distinction between proper and small gambling i.e. the amount of money one can legally gamble, and only the individuals above a certain threshold in terms of income should allowed in proper gambling and the people below the prescribed level of income should only be allowed to function in small gambling.

5.All the gambling and betting activities should be linked to the Aadhaar/PAN card of the person taking part in the activity so as to ensure transparency and to protect the public from the ill effects and ensure proper supervision.

6. The transactions amongst or between operators should all be cashless as to ensure extreme transparency and easy supervision and any cash transaction should be penalized.

7.Various amendments to the existing statutes-

a)     Foreign exchange Management act, 1999 and FDI policy to be amended in order to encourage FDI in the online/casino gaming industry and other technological advancements and collaborations with the already existing foreign betting instiutions.

b)     The information technology( intermediary guidelines) rules, 2011 also needs to be amended in order to facilitate the process.

c)     The National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, aims to prevent betting and gambling in sports and hence also needs to be amended.

8. Match fixing and other kinds of sports fraud shall be specifically made criminal offences and strictly penalized.

Huge Source of Revenue

Although sports betting is illegal in India, the people haven’t been completely deterred from it. There exists a large betting industry in India, estimates from various organizations like The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Justice Lodha Committee and International Centre for Sports Security, Doha, suggests the betting market in India ranges anywhere from 40 billion USD to 150 billion USD. Even if one takes the conservative side of the debate, it cannot be denied that if this market is legalized and taxed then it will yield at least in excess of 10 billion USD a year in taxes for the Government. This 10 billion USD is a big number for a nation with the annual union sports budget of less than 500 million USD. Another aspect which needs to be looked at is that this whole illegal gambling industry leads to other criminal activities and generation and smooth circulation of black money. The revenue that is generated from this can be used for the development for sports facilities in the country and also for the welfare of the former sports persons, some of whom are in a dire need of welfare support.

1. https://indiacsr.in/current-legal-framework-for-sports-betting-in-india 2. https://env.media/sports-betting-indias-favourite-invisible-giant/ 3. The Public Gambling Act, 1867 4. LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA, Report No. 276 LEGAL FRAMEWORK: GAMBLING AND SPORTS BETTING INCLUDING IN CRICKET IN INDIA 5. FICCI- Regulating Sports Betting in India- A vice to be tamed? 6. Should Gambling be Legalized? by Sanju George, Richard Velleman by Benedict Weobong.