Online Sports Betting

Why in news?

Ministry of Sports is undertaking consultations to legalise online sports betting in India.

What is Sport betting?

• A sport betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.
• The sports department is preparing an MoU with the UK which exhibits one of the successful models of legalised gambling.

How it is done in India?

• The illegal betting market in India is worth around 10 lakh crore.
• Most of it is done via local bookmakers and unregulated offshore websites.
• Sports ministry is now trying to absorb this revenue by legalising online betting.

What is the rationale behind the move?

• At present, betting is legal only on horse racing, and it is taxed.
• Legalising other online sports betting can address the issue of poor funding for sports at central and state level.
• Possibility of diverting a part of the revenue generated from betting towards the ministry’s programmes.
• The issue of legalising betting gathered momentum when former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha recommended it in his report to the Supreme Court last year, saying that betting should be legalised in cricket

What are the challenges?

• Betting is seen as a sensitive socio-political issue especially after the recent match-fixing and spot-fixing controversies in Cricket.
• The challenge lies in balancing the economic benefits and ethical concerns with betting.

Source: The Indian Express