Country: India

Committee: FIFA Governing Council

Agenda: Discussing the legislation of betting and its effect on the game.
Delegate Name: Zayed Zaman
School: Hill Spring International School

Betting on sports is an activity that has been taking place since the Ancient Romans. It started
with betting on chariot races and evolved into betting in major football matches. Although
betting appears to be a risky, joyous way to spend money during matches, it causes a plethora
of issues that the fans try to hide. Firstly, since betting is a luck-based activity, only a small
percent of fans actually win something. The rest lose money, and emotions are played with.
Fans forget about the game, rather stressing on the outcome of their bets and get addicted to
the wrong things. Apart from the fans, most delegates forget about the other people involved;
the football team. The manager, footballers, referees, and staff are all either pressured into
match-fixing or they take part in match-fixing because of their greed. One of the worst
aspects about betting, is the aspect of integrity. Football is a sport that teaches sportsmanship,
hard work, and dedication among others. Betting removes the hard work and dedication if
players are playing to lose. It also removes sportsmanship because the players involved in
match fixing don’t respect their opponents if they don’t play their best.

India believes that betting is unethical, hence it has been banned because of the Public
Gambling Act of 1867and the IT Act. However, in the IT Act, nothing was mentioned about
online betting, and thus India’s stance is quite complex. The delegate of India hopes to gain a
better understanding of what the other countries are doing and hopes to gain many ideas
because of fruitful debate. Around 370 million people around India participate in betting
during major sporting events, and the delegate of India asks the other nations to aid India in
mitigating the number of people participating in betting.

Solutions that India proposes:

1. For every country that has a complex stance about the idea of betting in football, the
delegate of India requests fortifying legislations, so that all countries have a clear
viewpoint and set of rules to abide by when difficult situations arise. This should also
include renewing old acts such as the Gambling Act of 1867 to add rules about online
betting.

2. The delegate of India strongly believes that all countries should try to work hard to
collaborate with the organizations concerned such as FIFA, and not look at them as
the opposition, because one should keep in mind that FIFA has held this conference to
place regulations onto betting. Also, one should keep in mind that although many
tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup are held by FIFA, but the scandals such as
the scandal of 2006 did not take place directly because of FIFA; match fixing isn’t
done by FIFA, but by the rich and powerful better directly approaching the teams
secretly.

3. Educate the youth of the nation and set a minimum age for betting. If someone starts
gambling at a delicate age, they will be probable to higher money losses due to lack of
experience, and addiction. Educating the youth of the dangers of gambling would
cause many to stray away from it.
 4. Internationally, only legalized betting operators should be allowed. The illegal betting
areas would be frowned upon. These operators would have a limit to the amount of
money you are betting, for your safety, as football scores are unpredictable. Illegal
betting would be fined heavily, like it is in India, so that people stray away from it.

Bibliography:

https://thefootytipster.com/the-history-of-soccer-betting-from-traditional-sportsbooks-to-
online-platforms/#:~:text=Historically%2C%20the%20origin%20of%20soccer,an%20increase
%20in%20soccer%20betting.

https://www.legalkart.com/legal-blog/legality-of-sports-betting-in-india#:~:text=The
%20Public%20Gambling%20Act%20of,Public%20Gambling%20Act%20of%201867.

https://www.outlookindia.com/sports/5-match-fixing-scandals-from-other-sports-that-
shocked-fans-news-274432#

https://www.sportskeeda.com/bos/370-million-participants-navigating-india-s-10-5-lakh-
crore-sports-betting-landscape#:~:text=The%20Indian%20enthusiasm%20for
%20real,engaging%20in%20regular%20betting%20activities.