Legalise betting in sport, Lodha panel tells Union government

Pointing out that worldwide legal sports betting market is worth over 400 billion US dollars, the Justice Lodha panel has recommended to the Union government to enact a law to legalise betting in sports including cricket in India.

In its final report the panel which had advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan as its secretary, said as far as betting is concerned, many of those who deposed before the Committee were of the view that it would serve both the game and economy if it were legalized as has been done in the United Kingdom. It cannot be overlooked that the worldwide legal sports betting market is worth over 400 billion dollars.

However, with the interest of cricket being foremost in our minds, it would always be necessary to protect and invoke transparency from those involved in the game.

While it is our recommendation that the legislatures ought to legalize betting in cricket, these must be with the following safeguards: Betting by administrators, players, match officials, team officials, owners, etc., will be barred and should continue to be an offence under the BCCI and IPL Rules & Regulations.

With only horse-racing legally permissible in India, those interested in betting have gone underground, with illegal bookies managing affairs. As is inevitable, the hawala system has awakened to these channels and money laundering has also become an inevitable outcome.

On match and spot fixing, the panel said “There is a fundamental difference between betting and match/spot-fixing. The latter interferes with the integrity of the game and attempts to change the course of the match. It is tampering the game by the cricket players to benefit a few.

“On the other hand, betting is a general malaise indulged by different sections of society, not only with reference to cricket but other games also. While the issue of betting can be effectively dealt with by providing a legal framework, match/spot-fixing is neither pardonable nor a matter for regulation. The only way to deal with it is by making it a criminal offence punishable by law.”