Regulating sports betting in India is not the question. The question, as articulated by Justice Mukul Mudgal, former Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court and Chairman, SC-Probe Panel, IPL 2013 Betting and Spot Fixing Scandal is, why regulation is slow to come by.

Speaking at the FICCI Conference on Regulating Sports Betting and Sports Law here on Saturday, Justice Mudgal gave several reasons for regulating sports betting with a sense of urgency.

He said that the Government can earn substantial amount of revenue from taxing these activities; it is taking place in an unauthorized manner in the country which is threatening the integrity of sports and players; some grass root sports programs in the country could very well do with the money received from taxing sports betting; unauthorized betting is providing revenue to the criminals in the society which is being used for other illicit purposes; and there is an exposure of the law abiding citizens to such criminals.

Without regulating sports betting it is very difficult to detect and conduct investigation on sporting fraud, Justice Mudgal emphasized.

He said one of the biggest threats to the integrity of sports besides doping is sporting fraud. Sporting fraud being the umbrella term which would cover all kinds of activities which are a threat to the integrity of sports like match fixing, spot fixing, tanking, point shaving amongst others.

Justice Mudgal said the rate at which the winnings from betting should be taxed can be decided by the government. He felt 20% on the winnings would not be high, especially considering that in some jurisdiction like Austria it is at 28% and in the UK it is up to 25%.

He, however, cautioned that any regulating sports betting may be proposed at a future date needs to be well thought out and should be done after extensive consultation with all the stakeholders whilst evaluating the social conditions.

Vishwanathan, Additional Solicitor General of India said in the conference that “There are pros and cons are involved in legalizing and regulating betting but before this Govt. should set up an Independent Regulatory Commission who can study the various aspects in depth and come out with a solutions keeping in mind the elimination of book makers. While the technically copying the west will be suicidal since the social moral are different, letting illegal bookmaking rampant will not also be more appropriate”.