MORAL ASPECTS OF BETTING IN SPORTS

VIJITH AN

BC0170053

INTRODUCTION

Sports betting contributes 30 to 40 percentage of the gambling happening across

the globe. Sports betting can be defined as placing a wager on the outcome of an
uncertain result in sports. This type of betting has been banned since ages among
various countries including India. But still these laws cannot restrict the gambling and
betting happening on sports which deals with billions of money. According to Jacques
Rogge, the eighth president of the International Olympic committee,“in the future if the
concept of a champion as a model of excellence becomes tarnished by the manipulation
of matches or the corruption of players, then the entire credibility of sport will
vanish”.1

In India cricket is the major sport and thus the major betting scandal also comes as
a complimentary. The Indian Premier League had a vast number of betting cases to
handle, many players were charged with offenses related to spot fixing and betting
moreover two huge teams who were the former champions of the league were also
banned for two years. This is not restricted within the boundaries of India and cricket,
sports betting has wider ambit which happens all over the planet and in most of the
sports. In Europe we mainly have betting on football while in America we have betting
on basketball. Nowadays, along with the evolution of humans, even betting has evolved
into the technological world where these sports betting takes place in online servers
organized by various groups and it becomes easier and accessible for the ones placing
bet. Thus, realizing the fact that we cannot control betting on sports, the 276th report of
the LCI(Law Commission Of India) came up with the idea of legalising sports betting.
Because they thought that if betting could be legalised by fixing norms and regulated
rules, then betting can be done in a controlled way and the consequential crimes arising
due to betting can be controlled. Coming to the morality aspect of the betting, wager
cannot be considered as an immoral act if it happens in controlled and a proper way, but
it’s not the current scenario. Because these days if a person has the control over the

1
Owen Gibson, Jacques Rogge says sport ‘in danger’ from illegal betting, The Guardian (Mar.1,
2011,7:02 PM) https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/mar/01/jacques-rogge-illegal-betting
players on the field then he can rule the betting market and dominate it in all aspects. In
such a case there is no question of the existence of morality because there is no good
happening. So, this research paper will try to analyse and study sports betting and its
impact on the society and will discuss on moral aspects of the same. The researcher
would also try to analyse the concept of legalisation of betting in sports.

THE GENESIS AND RISE OF SPORTS BETTING

Gambling has always been the captor of men. The evidence of this statement can be
traced from one of the great Indian epics, The ‘Mahabharata’ where Yudisthir will
lose his entire kingdom in a game dice, thus became the benchmark for an epic war.
Gambling has been in existence for thousands of years and has been mentioned in
various pages of the history.2 Gambling is considered to be a simple tool with which
a person can acquire wealth or whatever he desires within a short span of time and
without labour which thus fuels a mans dream and makes him skip work for a game of
dice. Eventually it is also considered evil in various religious scriptures, but still all
human are engaged in some sort of gambling in their life. The most peculiar part of
gambling is taking risk. Man must always take some sort of risk to gain whatever he
wants like exploration, trade, work etc. But here the risk is calculated and
proportionate to the gain. When it comes to gambling here the risk taken will be
proportionate but its not only for gain but also involves loss, hence it might be
positive or negative based on a persons luck.

Whether we like it or not, gambling has influenced the global culture in some way or
the other. In the modern times, gambling was involved in games like poker and cards
during the 17th century. Since the origin of gambling we had been facing various
controversies due to our passion for it and to control its effect on the society the
government of various countries throughout the world came up with different
gambling laws, and in regulating the same which reflects their developing
perspectives on morality. In India we have many statutory provisions which governs
and regulates gambling. Since the Pre-Independence period we have laws like The
Public Gambling Act, 1867, then a gaming act of 1845. In India and UK the major
similarity of idea was that both of them wanted gambling banned. Then, under the
Indian Constitution, the government came up with different aspects to frame laws for

2 Avinash Singh, Regularization of Indian Gambling Laws, 2 I.S.S.N 2321 6417, (2018)
regulating gambling and betting. In the case of State of Andhra Pradesh v. K.
Satyanaraya it was held that the three card game is not a game of pure chances it also
involves skill and hence it can be exempted.3

Now coming to sports betting, it is placing wager on an uncertain reulst of the

sporting event which is not known to the parties betting. Nowadays, sports are in its
elite form which attracts money in all the ways possible and has become a commodity
being associated with various industries. But when it comes to sports betting, which is
mostly done on major games like football and cricket, there are several bookmakers
available who facilitates betting to happen might even have control over the game
which eventually means that they will have control over the outcomes which is quite
controversial. Sports betting also has history like the betting for sports like cock
fighting, horse racing, street fights, etc. But with the evolution of the trend of sports
even betting has evolved which consumes a large scale of audience throughout the
globe. In India sports has a great market, we have different leagues and tournaments
organized for various sports which involves circulation of billions of money.
Especially the Indian Premier League for cricket has the highest market value in India
and one among the top leagues throughout the world. But along with fame it
simultaneously has various controversies to its names. This league has involved more
money in betting than the one which comes legally. There is a wide network of people
working on betting which has political influence and remain untraceable. These
people function throughout India and has labour at different hierarchy to facilitate
betting. The most nonrecoverable part of this is that, they have the control of players
and teams playing the sport due to which they come up with the outcomes they want
and making the ones betting nothing more than a fool. But, this issue was not left
unattended the government and the judiciary did their duty by banning certain player
and teams involved in spot fixing and formed a lodha committee to take care of these
betting issues in the game. Thus, these kinds os act due to the greed for money by the
athletes were considered to be a threat for integrity of the sport. The term
sportsmanship is applicable to all the sportsperson but when they commit such kind of
an act it becomes questionable.

3
Andhra Pradesh v. K. Sathyanarayana, AIR (1968) SCC, 825.
Not only in India, even various major sport organizations like FIFA and IOC are also
doing their part to tackle the problems relating to betting prevailing in the sport. But
their jurisdiction was not broad and were restricted with certain limits. Hence they
came up with the International Centre For Sport Security since 2013, which was built
with the support of United Nations, which will serve as a platform to enforce law and
govern sports movements in a better way.This was a vital step to ensure the ethical
and financial health of the global sporting. The modern world has gambling concept
in sporting events due their ideologies of monetary gains and materialism

MORAL ASPECTS ANALYSED

Moral aspects of sports betting can be considered as far more appealing when
compared with the legal side of it. When we talk about legality we approach with a
perspective of crimes linked to gambling, but when we see it with a moral sense we
will get to know that Indian society has accepted gambling since the early ages. But
nowadays, sports betting is not the same as in those days, because they make sports
betting a business and do all sorts of tricks to earn their money. There is no fairness or
honesty only corruption and selfishness prevails thus influencing sporting in a
negative way which can never be morally accepted. These kinds of gambling will
result in the commission of various other crimes like tax evasion and etc. But
according to Bentham’s utilitarian theory if an act satisfies maximum number of
people then it cannot be wrong. Sports betting can be considered to be morally good
and ethical only when, the sports persons, referees, and all the others who influence
the game and consequently the bet, must be transparent so that they can be monitored
and hence a fair and honest game of betting can take place which will save the
manipulation against the lack of integrity of the sport.4

An athlete or a sports person will be practising and desire to win at any circumstances
which is considered to be a sport ethic. But due to sports betting, as in the case of the
Indian Premier League scandal these athletes are to loss their game to earn their

4
Inakshi Jha, LEGALIZATION OF GAMBLING ON OUTCOMES OF SPORTING EVENTS - A
FARCICAL SOLUTION TO AN UNCONTROLLABLE PROBLEM?,
Manupatra(2013),http://docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/862CD961-7049-47CA-B3F2-78D
67944EE90.pdf
money. They desire for the money more than that they desire for the game and lose
their respect along with it. Thus controversies has taken their place in the sports which
allows the fans and media to manipulate them in a negative way. Nowadays sports
betting includes various influential personalities who governs the game and this has
created a platform for breeding corruption in the individual aspects of the sport.

Thus, analyzing the factors governing the moral aspects of sports betting we may
come to a conclusion that sports betting is not morally good at present time with such
kinds of situations prevailing and leading to various activities prohibited by law
containing various criminal elements. But when, this act of gambling is regulated and
governed properly then there are chances of being morally good. In simple words,
sports betting can be considered as morally good, when an innocent person involved
in a betting and still that betting facilitated is carried out honestly and by fair means,
then it can it can be considered. If this has to happen.then betting must be legalised in
our country and must have regulations of the same.

THE CONCEPT OF LEGALISATION OF BETTING

Legalization of betting has remained a billion dollar question which has been left
unanswered. But still we have many debates on this concept particularly due to the
backdrop of the Indian Premier League scandal. The known fact is that whether we
legalize or not but still gambling and sports betting will prevail until the last of
mankind lives. So we are considering mixed reactions on this proposal to decide and
answer the question. Firstly considering the negative aspects of betting we come up
with certain points like children may be exposed to it and according to Indian
standards a person can’t take a sane decision before attaining his majority which is at
the age of 18. The it might create a menace among the society as the probability of
losing remains high and when you lose something which you cannot recover
consequently you get broke. Then there won’t be any discipline or fairness, there will
be corruption, bad governance and cerain other problems which might affect the
society5. On the contrast when we come to the positive side of gambling or sports
betting, then we have various other advantages such as source of employment and
India is considered to be one of the countries which has more number unemployed

5 Kanchan Sheharwat, Sports Betting in India, 3 IJCBM 2318-2828,(2014)

youths, then there won’t be any misuse of money, there will be an economic
advantage as it is clear that there will be lot of money being circulated in this field,
then we have the examples of other countries like UK and others.

Morality has been the foundation of law and as this activity of betting is being
practised and supported by the people, it has to be regularized rather than coming up
with a ban. The ban which we already have implemented on sports betting has proved
to be useless and still people are involved in betting at a level of larger scale
throughout the globe. Understanding this part of our law, the 276th law commission
report has recommended a primary need to legalize betting and gambling by
regulating certain rules and to govern them with a perfect body. Previously two
committees Mudgal Committee and Lodha Committee were formed to regulate
betting, and in which the lodha committee has suggested the concept of legalisation of
betting in the case of BCCI V. cricket association of Bihar. 6 The commission report
discussed the history of our country in gambling and betting starting with Ramayana,
Mahabharata, Yagnyavalkya, etc 7. And came to a conclusion that gambling and
betting was prevalent in the ancient times but they had rules to regulate them and it
turned out to be a great source of income.

The major interpretation of the existing laws is that, they are a mere failure and that
we cannot eradicated betting from our society. It has proved to be an impossible task.
Hence considering the moral aspects and the history of gambling and betting in sports
we can legalise sports betting with certain rules to regulate which will reduce the
amount of black money involved in betting and hence there will be an economic
advancement and various other advantages will follow.

CONCLUSION

Sports is an unpredictable and natural form of entertainment which struggles to face

corruption in the form of gambling and to make sure that the integrity of the sport
prevails. In this research paper we have gone through the glimpses of history to
analyse gambling and to interpret it in a better way when it comes to sports and then

6 Board of Cricket Control in India v. Cricket Association of Bihar,(2014) 7 SCC 383

7 Raadhika Gupta, Legalising Betting in Sports Some Reflections on Lawmaking, 48 EPW, 13-15(2013)
we tried to study the morality aspects of the same. The researcher would like to
conlude his research paper by saying that, gambling and betting in sports has been
prevalent through the ages and it has not had such an awful situation at any of those
times. The historical descendants have proved that gambling can be entertaining and
an interesting way to earn some money and they had proper regulated betting which
took place peacefully. Hence now by legalizing the act of sports betting we would
open a new field of opportunities in all aspects and this legalisation must be
accompanied with certain rules and regulations and restrict the betting without any
criminal elements involved.