In the past decades, controversy has proved to be cricket’s wicked twin. It wasn’t long ago when the former Indian captain, one of the finest batsmen of all times, Mohammed Azharuddin was accused of fixing matches. As the CBI investigated, they caught hold of a bookie, Mukesh Gupta a.k.a MK, who spilt the beans about the scandal—and eventually several big names such as Ajay Jadeja and Ajay Sharma came into light as well

APRIL 7, 2000: South African Captain Hansie Cronje is charged with fixing ODI matches against India. At first, the captain denies the allegations, but later admits to his misdeeds. He is sacked. The Kings Commission is set up by SA, Cronje admits to taking large sums of money. He faces a life ban. NOVEMBER 27, 2000: Azharuddin is found guilty of fixing matches. While others like Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma and Indian physiotherapist Ali Irani are found guilty of having links with bookies. Azhar and Ajay Sharma are banned for life. MAY 16, 2013: Delhi Police arrests three Rajasthan Royal bowlers: Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan. They are arrested for allegedly fulfilling promises made to alleged bookies of bowling a bad over each for a large return sum. BCCI suspends the three players. Gurunath Meiyappan, a top official of the Chennai Super Kings franchise and son-in-law of the BCCI president N Srinivasan, is arrested by Mumbai Police on charges of cheating, forgery and fraud. Srinivasan steps aside temporarily. In a time like this, when the BCCI is trying to clean up the fixing mess, many want betting to be leaglised. There is a belief that legalising is the answer to the betting woes of cricket, as setting up a legal framework will help keep a tab on the activity. But then there are those who believe that gambling is a product of human greed and there is no cure for it. The question that arises, then, is that what is the way forward? Should betting be legalised? Is there an alternate solution? DW asked experts Desh Gaurav Sekhri a sports attorney with J Sagar Associates and Dr Arbind Prasad, Director General, FICCI, for their opinions. DESH GAURAV SEKHRI// Betting in sports is an uncertain science—given the parity on the playing field if everyone performs to best of his abilities. With a rise in the disposable income and a growing awareness of individual statistics and fantasy leagues, betting in sports is becoming popular. A league format such as the IPL is the ideal forum for betting, given the number of guaranteed opportunities to support a team in a short time-frame. So, to ensure that the odds are in the favor of the bookies, bookies may make efforts to spot-fix or match-fix, so that the result is ensured in their favour, making the conducting of betting a more profitable occupation. Another reason why we see the increase in the fixing activity is because players who are given their twominutes of fame feel that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make money beyond their playing abilities. Being exposed to so much wealth, the demonstration effect probably takes a toll on players who aspire to be wealthy, and the question of patriotism probably doesn’t cloud anyone’s thoughts because they represent teams and not their country or state. With demand for ensured results meeting a supply of individual fringe players, there has likely been an increase in the fixing activity. However, the solution to the problem is not so simple. People are talking about legalising betting, but I think it is not the magic wand, everyone is assuming it to be. It’s not that I think that betting should not be legalised—I have no problem if it is legalised, and it may in fact be a good thing for Indian sports. But, I don’t think that legalising betting will necessarily be the solution to nefarious activity that we are witnessing recently. Legalising betting has its merits if one were to look at possible revenue from legal betting, and the possibility of centralising information on betting activity for a future regulatory body, in sports, to be able to monitor. Having said that, both practically and from an enforceability standpoint, legalising betting will not reduce the dangers of corruption in sports. Nor will it be able to fulfill the function of being a proxy watchdog for monitoring criminal activity in sports. I feel legalised sports betting will have limited success in India. Also, I feel that by legalising betting without strengthening enforcement measures such as legislation to punish offenders, or strengthening compliances governance measures at the central and team levels, corruption may actually rise, as bookies and involved parties take all the measures possible to ensure results that suit betting odds. Let’s not forget that in many ways India is a conservative society; merely by legalising sports betting into the mainstream, we can’t expect everyone to immediately cross over. It’s not feasible. So, what will happen is that there will be two parallel betting outlets functioning simultaneously—the legal betting outlet which will have its barriers to entry (for example, minimum age, citizenship, origins of the money, and the risk of the information being tracked and placed in the public domain), and the illegal outlet with no such barriers to entry. What we need instead is a legislation that focuses on good governance and stipulates punishment for unethical activity in accordance with the nature of the illegal activity is a must. Without a law that looks into these specific activities, it will be difficult to curb corruption. We must be careful however of not over-regulating sports. There are many processes that have to be improved to reduce corruption. First of all, the player auction needs to be replaced with a draft so that there are wage floors and ceilings to protect players. Then, there needs to be a player-agent certification process that necessitates certain qualifications for any player’s agent to be able to perform the fiduciary responsibility the agent owes to his client— similar to FIFA and the North American leagues. It is also important to initiate a player’s representative body which advises each player on legal, financial, and personal matters by empanelling professionals. Further, this body must position itself towards collective bargaining between players and the team owners. Good governance and level playing field negotiations will be a benefit for all those with a stake in any sports league in India. And, for the overall sports domain, it is important to consider a regulating body that looks into sports-specific egressions, including the enforcing of violations that are either contractual, or if the anti-corruption law is enacted, of enforcing it on a case by case basis. These are just some of the measures I can think of, but a lot needs to be changed to ensure that positive perception and good governance become the mainstays of Indian sports. An example of Britain is being quoted by many, that when they could clean up their system by legalising betting, why can't we do the same? Let me tell you, legalising betting is not the solution to cleaning the system. Britain may have legalised betting, but it also has numerous compliances and processes that it has incorporated in its numerous leagues, which are what prevents unethical activity. And let’s not forget that corruption in sports does happen on occasion in Britain despite all of this. Also, it’s an apples to oranges comparison, because the landscape differentials between India and Britain are sizeable. Britain has a much smaller population with a rich and long history of professional sports leagues for decades. In India we already have a network of illegal betting outlets which must be tackled, regulated, and then future corruption possibilities eradicated. To clean a system consisting of unregulated illegal betting/potential fixing and with an exponentially larger population than any European or even North American country won’t be an easy task.