With IPL6 spot fixing scandal and likes of Sreesanth and couple of other cricketers already in police custody; IPL franchisee owners like Raj Kundra (Rajasthan Royals) and Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai Super Kings) been involved in the betting; Bookies from states across India arrested, the ghost of betting in cricket and involvement of big names in betting has again haunted the sports world. Cricket fans have again started wondering if the match they are watching already fixed.
Spot fixing or betting or gambling is not restricted only to cricket but extends to other sports as well. What differs is only the magnitude. Only betting on horse racing is legal in India. The betting or gambling racket is completely underground. Thus, exact size of the market is not known. But, Indian betting industry or gambling market is estimated to be worth over USD 70 Billion a year.
Indian IT industry is worth around USD 100 billion which contributes approximately 7.5% to India’s GDP. Hence, we can estimate the contribution to our GDP that gambling industry can make.
Many countries have legalized gambling. Then, why should we not legalize it in India?
I am of the firm opinion that it is not at all possible to stop gambling and it would continue to run as an underground industry. Thus, it makes an absolute practical sense to make it legal and have an authority that controls it. Government can issue licenses to gambling houses and earn annual license fee. Besides, the income from gambling should also be taxable as per the prevalent tax slabs. All of this would help to reduce our fiscal deficit and increase our GDP.
A classic example is Macau where gambling industry generates over 40% of GDP. When it makes such an economical sense then I am not sure what prevents our government from taking a decision towards recognizing and legalizing this industry.
Is it a case that our politicians and bureaucrats benefits indirectly from the existing illegal betting rackets? Thus, they are worried that their earnings or contributions to their party fund would be affected. May be…May be not…
Gambling, prostitution should be legalized. There are somethings worth fighting against, and somethings not worth the effort. I cannot understand why a stock market should be legal and not gambling. They are exactly the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Soham....the stock market is the living example of gambling in India. Not only gambling it seems to be the cause of driving up the commodity prices as well
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