Indian State Minister Anurag Thakur believes that his country must legalize and regularize gambling to end match-fixing. During his speech on november 19 at an ICICI Securities event, the former Chairman of the Board of Crick Control said that legal bets on cricket and other sports should be allowed.
According to Thakur, this would allow “monitoring of the people allegedly involved in the arrangement,” and could stop “ungodly and corrupt” practices and contribute to the generation of new revenue for the state.
“If we look at the problem of match fixing, then the trends in betting can give us clues as to whether something ungodly is happening or not. Gambling can become a powerful tool to stop fixing,” said the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company, Nilesh Shah.
“My suggestion will be to legalize gambling and gambling activities, which are clandestine. They continue to exist in our society,” Shah added in support of the Indian minister.
About $ 60 billion in shares and about $ 48 billion for Indian cricket alone participate in the illegal game. To reinforce his argument, Thakur cited the example of the UK, which benefits from tax revenue generated by sports betting. He expressed that India should take advantage of this circumstance to offer safe bets to the Indian people and benefit from the gaming industry.
However, Indian law and courts have so far gone in another direction. Recently, the Madras high court asked the Tamil Nadu government to decide whether or not to allow online gambling. He also issued a warning to celebrities and sports stars to avoid participating in game promotions.
On the other hand, authorities have stepped up the crackdown on Diwali gambling activity by making hundreds of arrests last week.
Thakur’s opinion of the game departs from the Madras high court line of thought. Although it serves as an argument for the Indian government to change direction in case it is considering the possibility of banning online gambling. As a former cricket star and current Member of Parliament, Thakur has a lot to help in this discussion.