KXIP owner Preity Zinta wants betting to be legalised for IPL 2019

The Indian Premier League is one of the most popular T20 leagues around the world. Over the years the famous league has been marred with several controversies including betting. From team owners to Bollywood stars, many have been found guilty of betting in the tournament. These things have critically hit the reputation of the league, due to which famous soft drink maker Pepsi too decided to end it's deal prematurely.

In 2013, IPL was hit with a sensational betting scandal which saw many players including discarded Indian pacer S Sreesanth getting arrested for alleged involvement. Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and KXIP co-owner Ness Wadia were questioned due to this in the past and most recently during the 2018 season, Bollywood actor and film-maker Arbaaz Khan had admitted to betting in IPL games and he allegedly lost Rs 2.80 crore. He was questioned by the police after Sonu Jalan, a bookie took his name during the investigation. Now Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta has suggested that betting should be made legal in the country.

According to Kings XI owner, legalising betting in the IPL will help the government curb the corruption surrounding the mega sporting event. While acknowledging it as a means of income, she suggested that legalising betting will open a new source of income through the tournament and will also help in reducing the cases of illegal betting scandals. She also suggested that a lie detector test should be included in the IPL policy to ensure players refrain from such wrongdoings and remain clean on their part.

In a recent interview to HT, The KXIP owner quoted, "I think it would be important if the government legalises betting because it will be a good source of revenue and stuff and secondly, we can stop all this crap because how many people can you control. So, that's why I said let's do a random lie detector test, BCCI should just make it part of the policy, it will be amazing. Because of the fear of knowing that I can get caught, that's what you need. You can't police people that much."

When asked if she had been ever approached by a bookie or told about corruption surrounding the league, Preity said, "You think somebody can make an offer to me and still be alive, I would probably take him to the cops. Please understand I had just got out of movies. For 10 years I was living in a studio with cameras and characters that didn't exist, so I was living in a La La Land. Suddenly I stepped out into a cricket stadium. Everybody was alien to me and to be honest, I didn't know what was happening,"