In terms of gambling, the best thing can do is to legalize and regulate it, according to Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and former president of the Board of Crick Control.
He said at an ICICI Securities event on November 19 that the best way to get match fixing in the sport of cricket under control is to legalize betting on the sport. He added that would allow for monitoring people allegedly involved in fixing, prevent unholy and corrupt practices, and generate new tax revenue.
Agreeing with Thakur’s view, Nilesh Shah, the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company, said that if they looked at the problem of match-fixing, the trends in betting could give them leads on whether or not something unholy is happening. Shah believed that betting could become a potent tool to stop fixing and his suggestion would be to legalize betting and gambling activities.
Unlicensed gambling is happening regardless, with about $60b worth of action and $48b being directed at cricket alone in the country. He also noted that in countries such as the U.K., tax revenue from sports betting has become a major source of the government’s revenue, and India should do the same, at the same time making sports betting safer for their people.
However, that hasn’t been the approach of the country’s courts or legislatures up to now. The Madras high court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to make the decision once and for all if they intend to allow online casinos, while simultaneously warning sports stars and celebrities to stop drawing people into the activity. Hundreds of arrests have been made in the past week, since authorities have tried to crack down on Diwali gambling activity.
Thakur’s endorsement of sports betting flies in the face of the Madras high court, and gives Indian authorities a reason to reverse course, if they were really considering an online gambling ban.
