Opinion | Legalise betting, it’s a common sense thing to do

Gambling has long been a taboo in India. Look no further than the epic Mahabharata where Yudhisthir bets all his possessions, including his brothers and wife, in a frenzy and loses everything. Social disapproval of gambling continues well into modern times.

Today, if you want to bet on the ongoing cricket series between England and India or the football world cup, it is legal if the bet is placed in London, but you would be breaking the law if the same bet is placed in New Delhi. Placing an online bet sitting in India is also a gray area due to the gap between law and technology, say lawyers. This shows the futility of preventing gambling/betting in an interconnected world.

Thus, it is welcome that the Law Commission of India has recommended legalising betting and gambling in India, albeit reluctantly. Since it is “impossible to prevent these activities completely, effectively regulating them remains the only viable option”, the panel observed. It has also suggested stringent safeguards such as cashless transactions and know your customer (KYC) norms for legal betting.

MUST READ | Law Commission of India recommends legalisation of regulated betting

It’s a practical, common sense thing to do. India is not the only country considering legalising betting. In May, the US Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law that prohibited states from permitting betting in sports. Betting companies and states in favour of betting argued that it would increase tourism and tax revenues for individual states.

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Viju Cherian

Opinion Editor|moneycontrol.com

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A regulated market for sports bets should help curb the illegal betting racket, which has in the past led to match-fixing and spot-fixing allegations, especially in cricket. When betting is regularised, more institutional mechanisms will come in place and check fixing in sports.

There are many factors that weigh in favour of legalising gambling/sports betting in India. An estimate by the Doha-based International Centre for Sports Security pegged the illegal betting market in India at about Rs 9.9 lakh crore annually. The Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) puts government revenue from legal betting at about Rs 19,000 crore.

At present, legal betting is permitted only in horse racing, which is taxed at 28 percent. The government also makes money from the sale of lottery tickets in a few states. In Mizoram, the revenue from the sale of lottery in 2014-15 was almost Rs 12 crore. Kerala collected Rs 908 crore as GST and Rs 1,690 crore as state revenue from lottery sales the previous fiscal. According to a June 5 report in The Economic Times, the GST collected from sale of lottery tickets across India was close to Rs 3,950 crore. These figures are too lucrative to be ignored, especially when governments can use this revenue for welfare and development causes, as seen in Kerala. Besides, states can also put the money earned from betting back into the sports; it’s a model China and England follow.

This is not to say that legalising gambling or sports betting is a magic pill that cures all the vices associated with it. It has its side effects: if unchecked, in individual cases, gambling could become an addiction leading to great financial loses.

Nevertheless, there is a case to be made for legalised betting with adequate safeguards and strict implementation.  The suggestion of going cashless with mandatory use of PAN and Aadhaar for every transaction is a good one which needs to be explored. A model India can look towards is the gambling laws in the United Kingdom. Betting/gambling is legal in England and is regulated by the Gambling Commission.