Legalizing sports betting

1.

Introduction

Betting on sports is a grey area in India. The Honble Supreme Court of Indias judgement in an appeal on
horse racing has held that betting on horse races is a game of skill as it involves judging the breed and
form of the horse, form of the jockey, and the conditions amongst other factors. But there is no such
judgment dealing squarely with betting in other sports.
The Constitution of India (Seventh Schedule, State List, Entry 34) gives
states the right to create their own laws and policies regarding betting and gambling. Therefore the
primary responsibility of regulating physical premises based betting and is with the state. Most states
have made laws prohibiting gambling but two states, Goa and Sikkim; have legalized many forms of
betting . But when it comes to online betting the ambit of this Entry 34 becomes murky as legislations
pertaining to Information Technology vests with the central government.
Despite on-going attempts to enforce prohibitions against sports
betting and a number of arrests of those concerned, there is still a great amount of money being bet on
sports in India. Some estimates put the total turnover of the the betting market at Rs. 300,000 crores
($60bn). Due to the perceived illegality of sports betting, a large sum of money flows untaxed to
unlicensed offshore Internet sites or to illegal bookmakers, many of whom are allied with organized
crime. This presents a strong case to regulate it as sport betting in the eyes of a large number of people is
an inevitable activity and is a mere form of entertainment.

We must understand why fixing is done. This is done to earn abnormal

profits by managing outcomes. If one cant manage this outcome, he would not be able to earn
abnormal profits. When sport betting is regulated, regulatory commission with the help of sports
associations would define the rules regulation and type of betting not the fixer. Hence general
public will prefer to bet on an officially recognized betting platform and will avoid route of
illegal bookmakers, nobody wants to associate themselves with criminals. Moreover public will
have incentives in placing bets with licensed operators. Therefore, as customers move towards
the legitimate regulated industry the volume of betting and money moves away from the
illegitimate industry it chokes the supply of liquidity to dishonest operators and thus reduction
in sports fraud like match fixing.

There will be a Regulatory commission who will watch the

betting and whole accountability will be on the commission. The commission will create legal
places in the cities where betting can be done. The owner of these places have got license of
running the business and the person who come there should also registered them by filling form
and receiving license from the government. All these things will run under the nose of
government and the revenue generated from the business should be paid in form of taxes, which
will help in curbing black money and unpaid taxes.

2. Body Of Policy
Rules
1. This regulatory commission will keep an eye on the whole betting
structure or process.
2. The person who will attain age of majority i.e. 18 years of age can play
betting on sports activities
3. The person who is going to play betting should clear his/her source of
income by filling a form and should be self attested.
4. There should be no restriction of entry apart from the age . The government
employees and private employees both can play betting on sports activities.
5. No one will be allowed to bet on the sports activity without license and no
one will be allowed to run business without license.

Authorities and Powers

1. The main and foremost authority this commission posses is to Issue
license to the Person who is going to run the business of betting
2. Issue license to the people who want to play betting
3. Counter check the source of the Income of the person who will play
betting .
4. Check whether the person who is running the business is doing it
according to the terms and conditions set by the commission.
5. Laid down the terms and conditions for the betting on sports activities .

6. In case of finding that the things are not according to the terms and
condition can cancel the license.
7. Keep and eye on the illegal betting and put them behind bars.
8. The commission should also have to keep a record of the money
generated from the transactions.
9. Commission should provide safe and secure ambience to the business
man .

Jurisdiction
This commission will have a jurisdiction over every institute who is
organizing legal as well as illegal betting . This commission will works
under the state government. The jurisdiction of the commission will be
limited to the state boundaries .

ProcedureThe government will have to create a commission which will work as a

watchdog for betting in sports activities. The commission should be
given status of a government department so that it should work with
some powers and the powers of the commission should me mentioned at
the time of framing the committee. The commission after coming into
force will issues license to the person who are willing to start business of
betting and in that case it will be a legal thing and the person who wants
to do betting should get their license from the government department
just like as we all get driving license from the RTO department. After a
person got the license he can from her home or from the place where the
betting club is situated can go and bet . In the whole process it should be
kept in the mind that the whole process will be legal and the money
generated from the transactions reaches to the government. The person
who involved as earlier mentioned that they will show their sources of

income which will also helps government in finding the black money.
This whole process will benefit the country as a whole it is not just for
the one or two or fifty person it is for the whole countrys population.
After that if someone finds to operate the illegal betting then that person
should be penalized.