INSIGHT
INDIA:
LAW COMMISSION NOTE SOWS FURTHER CONFUSION
The apparent backtracking of India’ s Law Commission on gambling legislation has done little to deter those with an eye on the huge market, says Joanne Christie
WHEN INDIA’ S LAW COMMISSION issued what was widely interpreted as a recommendation that betting and gambling be legalised in the country on 5 July, the country’ s press went into overdrive.
Shares in India’ s only listed casino operator, Delta Corp, rose and foreign operators the world over began salivating at the prospect of another enormous market opening up in the near future.
Rather confusingly, however, the Commission put out a press release the following day clarifying it had not, in fact, recommended legalisation or regulation but rather a complete ban on gambling.
It reiterated a portion of the conclusion of its lengthy 145-page report, specifically:“ The Commission reaches the inescapable conclusion that legalising betting and gambling is not desirable in India in the present scenario.
“ Therefore, the State authorities must ensure enforcement of a complete ban on unlawful betting and gambling.
“ However, incapability to enforce a complete ban has resulted in rampant increase in illegal gambling, resulting in a boom in black-money generation and circulation.
“ Since it is not possible to prevent these activities completely, effectively regulating
“ The Commission’ s clarification did little to deter the industry’ s enthusiasm, with many speculating it was simply seeking to emphasise that this was a decision for politicians to make” them remains the only viable option.”
But the clarification note did little to deter the industry’ s enthusiasm. Many speculate that the media had gone overboard, the commission had therefore taken a lot of heat politically on both sides and was simply seeking to emphasise that it was a decision for politicians to make.
Enthusiasm abounds Vaibhav Gaggar, managing partner at New Delhi-based law firm Gaggar and Partners, was unperturbed by the Commission’ s apparent backtracking.“ Despite the press note that came out the next day, there is a huge amount of expectation and excitement.
“ We expected a positive report coming out but this has actually gone way further. Earlier they were looking only at betting, as it was the sports-betting markets they were mandated to look into.
“ But they’ ve spoken about legalisation and regulating other forms of gambling, and they’ ve made certain serious observations on why it needs to be regulated and legalised.
“ Plus they have gone ahead and given recommendations in terms of what the structure should be like, so I think it is a huge step forward.”
Roland Landers is CEO at the All India Gaming Federation( AIGF), which represents a range of local and foreign companies. He says its members also view the report as a“ good positive first step in the right direction”.
It seems PokerStars – the only licensed foreign poker site in India, with its Indian site operated by Sachiko Gaming Pvt Ltd – didn’ t interpret the report as recommending a ban, either. When asked for comment,
48 iGB Affiliate Issue 70 AUG / SEP 2018