India's Gambling Laws Outdated for Online Wagering

India is a very old country and it has very old laws regarding gambling that are now being strained and pushed to the limit. The situation in India is such that there are calls from many sectors for the government to revamp it's outdated and confusing laws on gambling. Claims of illegal betting during the country’s multi-billion-dollar Twenty20 cricket tournament are being heard around the world. The Indian Premier League's chief Lalit Modi was suspended on charges of tax evasion by its organisers shortly after the final game of the tournament. Federal investigators revealed widespread illegal betting and match-fixing by Indian bookmakers and some leading players. Head of the Liberty Institute, a free-market think-tank in New Delhi, Barun Mitra, said, “It should have been legalised long ago. Banning it has created this problem,” A poll conducted by the Times of India newspaper suggested that 74 percent of respondents were in favour of gambling being made “a legitimate, regulated tax-paying business.” Gambling in India is severely restricted to certain areas and about half of all gambling activity in India is illegal. Representative Som Mandal from the law firm Fox Mandal Little, said, India’s gambling laws were confusing and outdated, especially given the growing popularity of online betting around the world. The 150 year old Public Gaming Act has remained largely unchanged. “It’s 19th century legislation that’s supposed to be regulating gambling on the Internet,” Mandal commented. Adding, “The moment there’s some sort of political angle to it or you come on the wrong side of the law as perceived by some people then all hell breaks loose.” A lack of clarity has created some strange interpretations of the current laws. Integrity in sports especially one as popular as cricket is important to the average punter, who just wants a level playing field on which to wager. Corruption has been reduced by the International Cricket Council and the Board of Cricket Control of India since their strict control measures were introduced after the last big cricket scandal ten years ago.