The ongoing spot-fixing scandal rocking the Indian Premier League has brought into focus the need for a public policy debate as well as a new legal framework to deal with gambling in relation to sports.
The moral, philosophical and legal positions on gambling in India are all grey areas and attempts at reform should move cautiously, after a detailed examination of the issues involved.
Three young scholars of The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Rajgopal Saikumar, Harsimran Kalra and Abhishek Mukherjee, the Centre’s digital content coordinator, have examined the various dimensions of gambling and sport in the centre’s first
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In the four-part analysis, the authors argue that there is no automatic connection between gambling and morality; the connection is derived and associative. By freeing the concept of gambling from “moral negativity” it becomes easier to regulate gambling as an activity.
The Brief traces the ineffectiveness of sports regulation in India including the lack of deterrence on malpractices, especially with regard to cricket. It also looks at the regulation of gambling in other countries which have market economies, and offers a comparative perspective for Indian policy-making.
Paternalistic attitude
In their presentation, the authors argue that the Indian legal framework has a paternalistic attitude towards gambling, one of prohibition and punishment.
“Instead, we suggest that there is a need to have a ‘right to do a wrong’. Here, a ‘right’ implies a fundamental liberty to make choices and ‘wrong’ implies certain victimless, amoral wrongs such as gambling.
“Based on the importance of liberty and individual choice, we suggest that the law not prohibit gambling, but make a moral-philosophical argument regulating gambling,” the authors say in the report.
However, they are quick to clarify that before amending the laws or passing new ones, intensive research, citizen engagement and stakeholder participation should be encouraged.
And, some of the key issues that need to be assessed are the impact of high deterrence and incidence of crimes such as theft and cheating that may result from gambling.
Malini Parthasarathy, Director of the Centre as well as Director, Kasturi & Sons, introduced the authors. She said the Brief was produced in the context of the raging controversy over the IPL match-fixing scandal. The controversy is a direct result of the Indian economy moving from a regulated structure to a market economy with the entry of market forces into sports.
N. Ram, Director, Kasturi & Sons, who moderated the discussions that followed, said that the gambling phenomenon is preying on the vulnerability of young cricketers.