When one talks of sports betting, the question arises whether it should be made legal or not. Despite arguments against making betting legal, former chief justice Mukul Mudgal and former cricketer Kirti Azad called for legalising betting so that the revenue could be used for sports development in the country.
Mudgal was of the opinion that legalising and regulating it could act as a deterrent to the illegal betting syndicates.
“If betting is legalised, the country stands to get close to R20,000 crore in tax. If this is regulated, this revenue can go into the development of sports. Rules can be drafted through the income tax regulation,” said the former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at a conference organised by FICCI.
azad: regulate federations first
Azad, a BJP MP and member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, said: “Before we think of regulating betting in Indian sports, there is a need to regulate the sports federations and associations in the country.” He came down heavily on the BCCI and said it has been seen that sports bodies had failed to abide by the laws of the land.
“Instances have come up where there is no accountability of money being transferred from unknown sources to a sportsperson’s account or new bank accounts being opened in foreign lands without prior permissions from the concerned authorities like the RBI,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Instances have come up where there is no accountability of money being transferred from unknown sources to a sportsperson’s account or new bank accounts being opened in foreign lands without prior permissions from the concerned authorities like the RBI,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}With the BCCI not having authority to conduct criminal investigations, the five players in IPL V, who were involved in a fixing scandal, should have been booked by the police, he added.