Law Commission Doubles Down On Legalized Gambling In India

• Is now the right time for legalized gambling in India?
• Will a PAN linked system prevent money laundering?
• Which states will adopt the new model law quickest?
• Can foreign investment be attracted to the sector?

In these days of the internet, virtual private networking and mobile gambling apps there is no longer any sensible prohibition on gambling that works however politicians and those in positions of power rarely if ever acknowledge this and instead morally pontificate about the social evils of gambling as if it weren’t society doing the gambling in the first place. So much for the simplicity of populist political posturing, but this week the Law Commission in India finally spoke of legalized gambling in India.

Releasing a report titled “Legal Framework: Gambling and Sports Betting including Cricket In India” the law commission laid out a vision of the future in which regulation of gaming markets within the country would allow the public to bet on sports in India whilst at the same time permit the owners of sites like Betrallyindia Sportsbook to both set up shop within the nation and to attract investment into the sector from foreign firms. Legalized gambling in India, let us remember, will be big business.

Will Legalized Gambling In India Attract Money Launderers?

The Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999 will require quite large amendments to facilitate that FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) but with all the licensing, brand sharing and technological collaborations that this will bring along it is manifestly the only sensible route forward in the internet age and is likely to form a central pillar of any model law for legalized gambling in India Parliament cooks up, one each individual state will then have to decide to either adopt or not as it wishes.

Naturally the report attempts to head off some of the more lurid criticlisms that are leveled at the gaming industry with particular attention paid to the question of money laundering, suggesting that legalized gambling in India be linked directly with a participant’s Aadhar or PAN card. Of course if you’re Indian gambling laws of this type will be well written enough to prevent the rich and powerful skimming money off the top without the tax man finding out, think again, the report isn’t perfect.   

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There are numerous contentious issues that swirl around the concept of legalized gambling in India and whilst the report addresses a great number of these it still leaves a lot of questions to be answered, the first being; Who made up that report title and why didn’t someone stop them? “Legal Framework: Gambling and Sports Betting including Cricket In India”? Are you kidding? These are lawyers, you’d think they’d know pointless redundancy when they see it. Were they getting paid by the word?

Someone should have told them that gambling includes, by definition, all sports betting, and indeed made them explain at length in which parallel universe the Law Commission believed sports betting in India wouldn’t include Cricket (the most popular and lucrative sport in the country). Legalized gambling in India has a tricky row to hoe politically and in these days of populist political simplicity perhaps the commission should have gone with “Legal Framework For Gambling In India” instead. N’est pas?