Context:
- The Sports Ministry is thinking about legalising online sports in India
- The Sports Ministry is likely to seek assistance from its counterparts in the UK, where gambling is legal.
What is the current status of betting in India?
- Betting is seen as a sensitive socio-political issue. More so in sports because of the match-fixing and spot-fixing controversies.
- The issue of legalising betting gathered momentum when former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha recommended that betting should be legalised in cricket.
- Illegal betting market in India is worth $150 billion, or roughly Rs 9.6 lakh crore.
- Most of it is via local bookmakers and unregulated offshore websites.
- At present, betting is legal only on horse racing, and it is taxed at 28 per cent under GST.
What are advantages of legalising betting in India?
- It can address the issue of poor funding for sports at central and state level by making online betting legal.
- The possibility of diverting a sizeable part of the revenue generated from betting towards the ministry’s programmes is also being deliberated.
- It can be beneficial to the economy as well as sports overall.
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