THE RECENT controversy of alleged spot fixing at Lords by Pakistani players has brought back to the forefront the evil of corruption associated with betting in sports. A common factor amongst the recent and past controversies has been the involvement of bookies from the subcontinent; be it an Indian bookie ‘John’ approaching Australian players Mark Waugh and Shane Warne, Sanjay Chawla approaching Hansie Cronje, a Lahore based bookmaker approaching Salim Malik or in the present case Mazhar Majeed a London based bookie acting in alleged conjunction with an Indian bookie.
The reason for this is that betting on sports is illegal in the subcontinental countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The bookies in the subcontinent form a part of an unorganized sector with free entry and exit, no fear of revenue loss due to cancellation of betting license and no corporate responsibility as is the scenario in the regulated betting industry in England and other European countries.
Cricket proves to be a popular choice with the huge underground betting industry for two reasons; it is followed akin to a religion in the subcontinent and cricket serves as an ideal vehicle for all types of betting since participation from all 11 players is not required to influence the result of a match or to make a contingent possibility happen.
With betting on sports being legal in some countries and illegal in others a preposterous situation is created, where a person in England can bet on a match being played in India but the same opportunity is not available to an Indian.
A dissection of Indian laws highlights a few aspects of sports betting; betting and gambling is under the purview of state legislation, betting is prohibited on a game of chance and not on a game of skill, horse racing and rummy have been held to be games of skill hence betting on them is legal. Cricket is predominantly a game of skill and chance plays a very small aspect in the game. The ability of the players, the form they are in and the conditions of play are important factors determining the result of a match. Hence the glaring question, is betting on cricket contrary to its moral code and is betting on sports really illegal?
The very reason for the development of the laws of cricket can be attributed to betting. Cricket served as a rural pastime for the landed gentry in England. To bring excitement to the sport, money was put at stake. Hence rules and regulations were developed to govern play and reduce chances of disagreement between both the sides. The cricket code of 1774 highlights the importance of betting to the game’s conduct by stating that the bet would be determined by the notches of one team against another.
Thus it would stand in good stead to set up a Gambling Commission on similar lines as in the UK to oversee the legalized betting industry in India. The Gambling Commission would regulate sports betting through the involvement of members from the police, players, governing body, legal profession and the fans. The Commission would monitor suspicious betting patterns, protect the interests of children and ensure that betting is fair and open, thus protecting the integrity of sport.
This would serve manifold purposes for the sport as well as for the government. Betting on sport can be taxed at 20% akin to horse racing, bringing much needed revenue to the government, a percentage of which could be used to develop sporting infrastructure and promote sports in general at the grassroot level. With regulation, the crime and corruption associated with the industry would be significantly reduced due to the direction of the bulk of the funds into organized betting.
(The Author is a Sports attorney and consultant to the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi)
