“Weeding out undesirable elements”
Justices Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar of the Indian Supreme Court have agreed to hear a petition that would permit legal, regulated sports betting in the country, according to the Asia Gaming Brief.
Senior advocate RS Suri and lawyer Reepak Kansal, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that legal sports betting would be beneficial to the country’s economy and help put an end to match fixing in sports, the Times of India reported.
“The calls for regulating betting have been made because unregulated betting is an immense loss to the country and also because regulation of this activity would enable the government to distinguish between harmless betting and corrupt activities like match fixing,” according to the petition.
“Regulating the existing system will weed out the undesirable elements in the betting business and will bring more credible and genuine players over whom the government can have more control.”
The petition suggested that the unregulated business is rife with “shady transactions” controlled by “huge crime syndicates and mafia. Most of these syndicates are not even managed from within the country.”
The legalization of sports is already being examined by the Law Commission of India. “We are examining all legal aspects of betting in sports,” retired Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan, chairman, Law Commission of India, told the Hindustan Times in March.
“Once we make up our mind and prepare a skeleton in what direction we should proceed and what legal problems may arise, we will write to all the stakeholders.”
“In many countries betting in sports is legal but situations are different there. We will study all the aspects,” said Justice Chauhan.
