THE LEGALISATION OF BETTING IN INDIA

In India the legalization of betting is a never ending debate and especially in the terms of
sports and in that of cricket. Betting has been in role since the Mahabharata time or even
before and also its instances can be seen in Quran and other religious texts. Most of the
betting is done while Indian Premier League (IPL) in India is being sponsored. In 2013 three
players of Rajasthan Royals were arrested for betting and match fixing. After this
transgression Apex court appointed two committees and they were “Mugdal Committee”,
under the supervision of Hon’ble Justice Mukul Mugdal to investigate in the scandal; and in
2015 “Lodha Committee”, under the supervision of Hon’ble Justice RM Lodha which
mainly focused on the amendments and issues related with BCCI. By the report submitted by
the “Lodha Committee”, Apex court submitted the report to the Law Commission for
legalization of betting in India and the same was accepted by the Law Commission in its 276th
report in the year 2018.

Gambling and Betting are the topics which comes under the 7 th schedule list no. 2, which
means the state has the power to decide on this topic. States like Goa and Union territory like
Daman and Diu have adopted British Era Gambling Act,1867 and legalized gambling in their
state. Horse racing has been given special status in many states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka.
In the case of “KR Lakshmanan V. State of Tamil Nadu”, it was held by the court that horse
racing is the game of skills not the game of chance and there is a difference between these
two. Basically, in this case horse racing was said that the horse who has that skill will win,
therefore betting on the skill is no violation of the law, whereas games which involves the
chance of wining falls under the betting. So, here it was distinguished between game of skills
and game of chance. Still few states like Orissa, Rajasthan, and Assam give no distinction
between game of skills and game of chance and consider both as illegal, whereas states like
Goa, Daman & Diu and Sikkim allow casino under certain circumstances. Still no conclusion
has been drawn between the games of skills and games of chance.

When we talk about betting there is another question that arises whether online betting is
considered as legal or illegal. Wherein Gambling and betting is a subject matter of the State
at the same time online betting or gambling is a subject matter of the Centre which makes it
more complicated. As we know that cyber activities in India are monitored and regulated in
India through the Information Technology Act, 2000 but this Act does not mention any word
Gambling or betting which makes the interpretation more complicated therefore it was left on
the Courts to interpret the Act and the Courts have still not come to the conclusion yet. To
make sure the position of the Indian Government on the concept of online gambling, the
Supreme Court decided to take the opinion of Central Government on this topic and it was
declined by the Central Government which made online gamers like poker, rummy, etc.
legally risky. But there are certain cases in which Supreme Court gave the judgement which
made playing rummy online legal. As in the previous case that we took that was K.R.
Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu, on the basis of differentiation games based on skills
and chance betting on horse racing was considered to be legal. Similarly, in case of Andhra
Pradesh v. K. Satyanarayna & Ors. Playing rummy online was also made legal. It was held by
the court that rummy is a game that involves skills as one need to memories the cards and it is
not purely based on chance

Maharashtra, under the Bombay Wager Act, online gambling is considered to be illegal. Any
other acts or legislations in India does not speak in respect to online gambling in India. In
2011 Federal Information Technology Rules were made under IT Act, 2000 to address
gambling online in which illegal activities maybe blocked by Internet Providers within India.
Also the Public Gaming Act, 1867 was introduced and it prohibits running or being in charge
of a gambling house. If anyone break this law, he is liable to pay fine Rs 200 or is served with
imprisonment of up to 3 months. In addition to this, this Act also provides that if anyone
visits gambling houses, he is liable to pay fine of Rs 100 or is served with the imprisonment
of up to 1 month but still this Act does not make any specific reference to online betting or
gambling.

There are almost 9.6 lakh crore rupees in the business of gambling, which the government
can neither regulate nor can give security to those who are involved in this business. In India
there are 58 thousand crore agriculture budget and 2.4 lakh crore total budget. So, the
question is where the 9.6 lakh crore rupees are going? On this we would like to say that these
amount are going for the terrorism, smuggling, black marking, drugs, etc. thus, for these
reasons Law commission said to legalize the betting in India. Further, the Law commission
also said that the money transacted in the betting should be done with the bank account linked
with the Aadhar Card, so that the amount 9.6 lakh crore comes to the knowledge of the
government and the government may impose the tax according to that and those money will
eventually help for the betterment of the nation. Law commission also said that in this way no
minors would get involved in the betting and the commission also made the limits for
spending money for the betting which should be based on the income of an individual.
So, at last we would like to say that the Government and the Parliament should legalize the
betting in India as in spite of money going for the destruction it should be engaged for
creation. Although many states and union territories are practicing it and few are doing it
secretively so it should be permitted for all the states to practice it. We know that their has
been a fear that if betting is made legal then it may exploit minors but keeping this point in
view the states can make certain laws prohibiting minors from betting and same should be
kept in mind by the owners of casinos or any other gamblers that they are not in an any kind
of transaction with a minor. This way those who wants to bet can do so and it will not effect
anyone. There is a large revenue that is generated in this business. Like for instance in 2013,
135 crores were contributed to the state revenue by the Casinos in Goa. Therefore, instead of
letting this revenue to go towards destruction, it can be used by the Government to uplift the
economy and make it more developed.