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Govt Policies & Interventions

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July 07, 2018

Despite being frowned upon from a moral and religious perspective, laws have failed to desist people from indulging in gambling on sports in India. In such a situation, do you think legalising gambling is a viable option to control gambling? Discuss in the light of recent Law commission report recommendations. (200 words)

Refer – Financial Express

Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.

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IAS Parliament 6 years

KEY POINTS

Arguments in favour

·         Gambling has been prevalent in Indian society since ancient times and has been accepted as a form of recreation on various social occasions.

·         Gambling is already happening in a massive way. Law enforcement authorities are not able to stop it.

·         A complete ban may in fact increase underground illegal betting and gambling activities, which may prove to be counterproductive.

·         Gambling is said to be controlled by underworld syndicates who use the unaccounted money for nefarious activities like terror financing.

·         Legalising the activity will not only help curtail an important source of black money, but also bring massive revenue to the state exchequer.

·         By taking this in to account, Law commission had recommended legalising gambling and advised to link the transactions with Aadhaar and PAN card.

·         So that, it would help the government to follow and regulate them and the tax revenue generated through it should be used for public welfare measures.

·         In addition to revenue generation, a legal and regulated gambling sector will also help in creating large-scale employment opportunities.

·         As regards the concerns about gambling leading to addiction and bankruptcy, it must be noted that even though gambling is largely illegal, it is still rampant and unchecked.

·         To cope with such challenges, Law commission restricts the no. of transactions by each individual on a monthly, half-yearly and annual basis.

·         It also classified gambling as proper and small for rich and low income groups respectively.

·         Regulations should also be made to protect vulnerable groups like BPL families and minors.

Arguments against

·         It is not morally correct in the Indian context.

·         In India, since the Mahabharata, the practice of gambling has been criticised.

·         It is like arguing that we are not able to control road accidents due to drunken driving, so we should consider legalising drunken driving and impose large fines to generate revenue.

·         There can be no guarantee that legalising regulated betting will stop players from being a part of betting rackets.

·         As of now, most betting is restricted with black money holders, if we legalise gambling, it will open the gates to all and the poorest segment would become the ready fodder.

·         The attempt to segregate proper from small gambling is well-intentioned and would protect the economically weaker sections, but disbarring from participation all players who get subsidies or do not pay taxes may violate the principle of equality of access.

·         Restricting a part of population would keep the business underground, defeating the purpose of the reform.

 

Shankaranand 6 years

Please Review

Thank You

IAS Parliament 6 years

Good effort. Include more points in support of your answer. Keep writing. 

Raghuram 6 years

Please review

IAS Parliament 6 years

A well-structured answer. Keep writing. 

Vyankatesh 6 years

@Raghuram, well articulated answer, you can add a line regarding experience of countries where gambling is regulated (cite example of Sikkim for that sake). keep it up, All The Best!

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