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Sports betting in India – legality and limitations

Sports betting, or the act of gambling money on a sports game is extremely popular in countries all over the world. One of the biggest forms of betting taking place today is on online applications. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has given rise to a new form of betting for cricket fans.

In the year 2017, land-based sports betting segments accounted for the highest share in the global sports betting market. With that said, the Indian sports betting industry, which exists solely online, is a big business despite the legality issues attached to it. Although, in general betting isn’t legal in India, there is still some prejudice attached to it. India views sports betting as unlawful but there is no taboo associated with online sports betting. The only federal gambling law in the country is The Public Gambling Act of 1867 which mentions about brick and mortar establishments only.

 

This law makes gambling illegal across the country, with a few exceptions:

• Horse racing in India, has a  history of over 200 years. It is the only betting sport which is legally allowed in India since the first racecourse in the country, which was set up in Madras in 1777. 
• Fantasy cricket in India has grown tremendously after the Supreme Court declared it a ‘fair’ game. The fact that India’s most famous fantasy platform, Dream11, is sponsoring the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) highlights their rapid growth.

Dr Sashi Tharoor advocates legalized sports betting. He had earlier mentioned that sports betting could boost the country’s revenue even further and online platforms help the government earn tax revenue. After introducing the Private Members bill in the parliament for legalising sports betting, he said, “Number one, it takes away the power from the underworld. Right now, the mafia that controls betting syndicates and bets on matches they are ones who do things like match-fixing and so on. An open above board betting system would not do that. Secondly, you can tax legal betting, and when you tax it, revenues of the tax go up.”

To know more about sports betting in India, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com 

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