India’s Growing Illegal Sports Betting Problem

Home » Poker News » India’s Growing Illegal Sports Betting Problem

Tuesday, June 28th, 2016 | Written by Shane Larson

Governments across the globe are increasingly taking a more liberal view towards gambling, and introducing online and land-based legislation to regulate the industry, protect consumers and generate much-needed tax revenues. In India, however, maintaining the status quo is the top priority of lawmakers, much to the disappointment of the sub-continent’s millions of residents who enjoy sports betting.

Current State of Gambling in India

In India, gambling legalization is decided at the state level much as it is in the United States. Currently, casinos are only allowed to operate in three states in India, and those brick-and-mortar casinos are geared toward tourists rather than Indians. Betting on horse racing is legal across India, but sports betting is illegal. Those who are found guilty of accepting or placing bets can face steep fines and even imprisonment. There are no laws regarding online gambling in India, though, which presents a loophole that many Indians exploit in order to place bets and gamble on offshore sites.

Dangers of Illegal Sports Betting

Cricket is the most popular sport in India, and many Indians enjoy placing wagers on cricket games, often having to pay large sums of money in order to buy memberships with offshore sites. Unfortunately, these sites often turn out to be scams and disappear soon after, taking the money, and leaving Indians with no legal recourse to recoup their funds. Others do turn out to be legitimate sites, but there is still no way of knowing what steps the sites have taken to protect consumer information. Furthermore, people in India who suffer from gambling addiction lack the ability to seek help for the problem, as they can be prosecuted for illegal betting if they come forward.

The Man Who Gambled His Wife

In order to the highlight the problem, one needs to look no further than a recent bizarre case involving Indian man Ravindra Singh, who lost his money gambling on the Indian Premier League (IPL), and then used his wife as collateral so as to place more bets on cricket games. His further attempts at gambling subsequently proved equally as unsuccessful and having already sold off all her jewellery and valuables, Jasmeet Kaur then started being harassed by her husband’s gambling associates, leading to her informing the authorities of her predicament. As Govindnagar Ajai Prakash Srivastava from the Station House Office later explained:

“On the very first day of marriage, her husband, who was into share trading, asked her to hand over to him her jewellery and other valuables. Later, she got to know about his vices of drinking and gambling. Over the years, he either sold or lost in gambling all the valuables of their household. He was also planning to sell the house when this IPL gambling fiasco happened. The wife said the husband would beat her up every now and then and once he even urged her to bring Rs 7 lakh ($10,442) from her parents.”

The Call for Legalization

Recently, the BBC interviewed a number of Indian cricket fans about sports betting. Nearly all of them expressed a desire for legalized sports betting in India, so that they would no longer have to hide their activity. Even those who do not bet are beginning to call upon Indian lawmakers to legalize sports betting, stating that the more than $60 billion of revenue generated from black market sports betting should be put through legitimate operators and taxed to help fund government programs. There is also a belief that legalization could even reduce gambling addiction problems, as removing the stigma surrounding sports betting would allow people to receive treatment.

What Must Change Before Sports Betting Regulation

The biggest barrier to the legalization of sports betting and other forms of gambling in India is religious practice. Approximately 80 percent of Indians practice Hinduism, a religion that forbids gambling, so many people view sports betting, online poker and casino games as sinful. Horse racing has been allowed to remain legal due to a belief that it requires skill that other forms of gambling do not. In order for sports betting to be legalized, the case would have to be made that wagering requires skill as well. It would also be necessary for the various state governments to come together as a unified front to move forward with legalization, something that experts feel is unlikely to happen any time in the near future.