G3-247 Report INDIA
Goa today has a number of offshore and land based casinos, whilst Sikkim has set up the only legal betting website in India via Playwin lottery.
It’s a paradox and many are now baffled as to where the law really stands. Back hander is a word branded around. If you have enough money to buy your way in, then you can probably do it.
Many in India say that most newspapers are filled with stories about cricket betting scandals or betting house raids. Cricket is of course the favourite sport and a large portion of the community continues to partake in sports book betting despite the fact it is illegal.
Sports betting is not permitted although there are con- tinual calls to allow it saying funds merely go to under- ground bookies and this is then used for terrorism and drugs.
It’s a grey area. Many bookmakers have been arrested but not the bettors. And there aren’t any actual laws that prohibit sports betting. The Public Gambling Act makes casino gaming illegal, however on the other hand as a skill game horse race betting is permitted. Some argue
The Public Gambling Act of 1867 basically prohibits the running of public gaming houses. It’s an archaic document created during British rule
sports betting is also a skill game.
The Public Gambling Act of 1867 basically prohibits the running of public gaming houses. It’s an archaic docu- ment created during British rule. Pakistan has since abolished this rule whilst the Indian government con- tinues with the same restrictions.
The law is 145 years old and basically bans gambling houses being operated or visited. The penalty is up to Rs200 or up to three months imprisonment for anyone found operating such a venue. Visiting gambling houses is also prohibited with up to Rs100 fines and one month imprisonment. Apparently no one has ever been found guilty of betting.
Skill games are however allowed. The situation is slight- ly vague, however in 1996 the Supreme Courts defined games of skill as the following: ‘The competitions where success depends on substantial degree of skill are not gambling and despite there being an element of chance if a game is preponderantly a game of skill it would nev- ertheless be a game of mere skill.’
In 1968 Rummy was determined to be a skill game. Poker is a grey area. Horse racing is legal and declared a skill game. Cricket betting is banned.
The illegal gambling sector can be extremely damaging. Criminal rackets run the show and over the years these have become semi professional set ups with cutting edge technologies to run their systems. There is a con- stant battle between the police and bookmakers. Time and money is spent trying to track down illegal gam- bling set ups and as these operations in all reality don’t impose any imminent problems to the public many Indians believe money would be better spent else- where.
But of course money from illegal gambling is then used in criminal circles and so the problem continues.
5 7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132