Authorities in India recently renewed a campaign to stamp out illegal gambling and root out the corruption of cricket and other sport, but it is a battle they are losing.
All gambling is illegal in India under a patchwork of state legislature and a colonial law passed in 1867.
In 2016 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a massive demonetization, a move with several motivations among them, the elimination of cash from illicit dealings such as gambling.
The demonetization proved wildly unpopular but succeeded in dealing a blow to illegal gambling.
Demonetization didn’t stop illegal gambling in India; it drove it into the country’s growing tech revolution. Bookies now take smaller bets, more often, through mobile apps and redirected websites.
Opponents of demonetization have pointed out that individuals involved in the generation and hoarding of illicit funds are known not to stockpile cash. Bets on cricket in India are often placed using cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. The difficult to trace digital currencies are favoured by individuals engaged in other illicit and illegal practices.
Reports from India suggest that nearly $200-million in illegal bets are placed when India play an international.
There are undeniable links between match-fixers and illegal bookmakers. Not all bookies have ties to fixers though, and there are no avenues for Indians to gamble legally on cricket.
The prohibition of all gambling encourages corruption. This would normally be an issue only for India, but that massive illegal gambling market funds fixing rings. Those rings have had an impact on the integrity of cricket all over the world. They are a scourge on cricket.
If India were to legalize and regulate sports gambling, it would draw a significant amount of funding away from fixers.
In 2016 India’s Law Commission, at the behest of the Supreme Court, weighed the arguments for and against the decriminalization of gambling. The Commission believed that decriminalization would put a big dent in corruption.
There are cultural and religious barriers to the legalization of gambling in India. Critics point out that many other taboo practices are legal, such as the sale of cigarettes and alcohol.
It would be of great benefit to India’s government and wider society to bring gambling out into the open. This would generate a great deal of tax revenue, with the illegal betting industry believed to be worth as much as $60-billion, and it would help stamp out corruption.
The legalization of gambling in India would have a big impact on the amount of sway spot-fixers and match-fixers have on cricket worldwide. It would not end the fight against the corruption of the beloved sport but it would be a giant leap forward.
Written by James Richardson for Hollywoodbets.
