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Much like an infant learning to stand on its two feet and take its first few steps, India too has awoken and taken its first steps towards becoming a sporting nation. Over the past few years, our country has witnessed tremendous success in various disciplines that were in the once only a chapter in a child’s school book. While much of the credit to success has to be given to the sheer determination and hard work put in by the respective athletes, India has alternatively, succeeded in various sports is due to the establishment of a professional league.
India’s victory in the 2011 Cricket World Cup, although not directly attributable, can be connected to the improvement in fielding after the introduction of Indian Premier League. Similarly, we have seen an improvement in the country’s performance in Badminton in recent years and one of the reasons for such happens to be the introduction of the Indian Badminton League in 2013. Our nation today has as many as 8 professional leagues across various disciplines. These leagues have helped identify new talent in the country and provided a platform for more prospective talent to pursue greatness in the sport they love.
A Strong Need To Bet
Professional leagues although beneficial to the sport are unprofitable ventures. Most corporates and individuals who today have invested in sports are either wealthy celebrities with an interest in sports or organisations with a charitable mindset. With most teams and leagues yet to break even, investors will almost certainly pull out if they do not see light at the end of the tunnel in a few years. In order to ensure this positive sporting ecosystem continues to thrive and improve, measures must be taken to ensure they are profitable.
In developed sporting markets like Europe and USA, one prominent feature that contributes greatly to a profitable sporting industry is the existence of a legalised and well-regulated sports betting system. With various online websites are made available to wager on outcomes of several games, a whole new industry has been conceived to support and grow symbiotically with the sporting industry.
Betting In The Past
Betting has existed as part of human life since the dawn of time. The evidence of betting dates back to 2300 BC where in China marked tiles was used in a game of chance and the funds collected were used to finance the Government’s work. Construction of the Great Wall of China is said to have been financed by one such venture. Sports betting, on the other hand, although unclear can be traced back to the Roman empire, where kings and commoners alike would put out a portion of their wages on the outcome of chariot races or gladiatorial fights, hence coining the term ‘wager’.
Betting in India
The Indian sporting industry to take the next logical step in growth, must embrace a regulated betting system. The government has deemed gambling unnecessary due to its unproductive nature and to ensure they curb the addiction among the Indian mass who already have vices such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs. However, a well-monitored betting system would take measures to negate such disadvantages and would prove largely beneficial to the industry.
Much like the advent of social media in sports, the introduction of betting would give birth to a new industry and a requirement for new professionals creating many jobs. Statisticians and mathematicians who were otherwise confined to conventional jobs will now have a new avenue to ply their trade in. With such an industry coming to life, there will also be a demand for lawyers, financiers and administrators to manage and run such organisations on a day to day basis.
The premier league today has 10 out of the 20 teams sponsored by a betting company. With the existence of such betting industry, there will now be more organisations that will be willing to sponsor and pump money back into the sports industry. Thus creating a cycle of self-sustenance. Athletes who were otherwise finding it hard to be sponsored will now have a new set of organisations who would be more than willing to sponsor them in order to make sure their entity’s voice is heard.
With the existence of a betting industry, the government will create additional revenue for itself by taxing the profitable betting organisations as well as winnings of individuals. In an ideal world, we could see the government use such taxed revenue to provide sports infrastructure facilities to promote sports and a healthy lifestyle in the country.
India seems to be taking a step in the right direction as the recently released Lodha Committee report stated the need for a legalised betting system to be established in cricket. Since the 2013 IPL match-fixing scandal, governing bodies have been looking for a way to curb match-fixing in the sport and a legal betting system would help.
One of the points the Lodha committee report states is the need for legalising betting and criminalising fixing. It firmly believes that a legalised betting avenue would help reduce the prevalence of black money into the economy and thereby avoiding the promotion of immoral activities. Additionally, it would earn tons of revenue for the government while at the same time it would help monitor and regulate the exchange of large sums of money in sports-related activities.
With necessary care and careful implementation, India can truly benefit from a legal sports betting industry that could do wonders for growth and development of sports.
