Since prehistoric times, India has had a well-documented association with gambling, even claiming to be its birthplace. Some belief the account of gambling in the Rig Veda, an ancient Indian text published between 1700 and 1100 BCE, to be the world's first known definition of gambling. Gambling's popularity in India continued through the medieval period (8th–17th-century CE), colonial India (from the 17th century to 1947),3,4, and up to now.
While the British initially promoted gambling in India (to raise high tax revenues), as public sentiment in Britain moved toward gambling and its detrimental impacts on society became apparent (bankruptcies, delinquency, violence, and so on), anti-gambling laws started to evolve in British-ruled India as well. The Imperial Legislative Council adopted The Public Gaming Act of India in 1867 to limit and control gambling activities in India.
It abolished most forms of gambling and, more specifically, distinguished between games of "pure chance" (e.g., betting on the regular price of marijuana or cotton, the amount of rainfall, etc.) and games of talent and not just chance, such as horse racing, which is legalized. The Public Gambling Act of 1867 is still in force today, and it is the only statute in India that governs gambling (other than horse racing).
This is partly because the Centre has given jurisdiction to individual states to either enforce the Central Act or make necessary changes to restrict or deregulate gaming operations within their territories, as they see fit. As a result, it is safe to assume that gambling is almost entirely a state problem in legal terms.
Few gambling operations are legal in India, although others are not. In 13 of the 29 states and 5 of the 7 union territories, state-run lotteries are valid. Horse racing is legal in six states, and gambling is legal in two others.
Festival fair gambling is very common in India, and they have a variety of legal and illegal gambling options, collectively known as "festival gambling." Sports betting, whether online or offline, is illegal in India (except for horse racing, which is interpreted as a game of skill rather than chance in some states and thus legal), but online games of skill (such as rummy, poker, and fantasy sports) are legal.
While individual states may amend the Central Act to regulate or deregulate gambling practices within their borders as they see fit, no state (except Sikkim) has made an amendment authorizing sports betting.
Since 2010, the state of Sikkim has only permitted sports betting over the internet. So, except for Sikkim, both online and offline sports betting is illegal in India.
As a result of this high level of interest, and the fact that sports betting is illegal in India, the country has a large and increasing illegal betting industry, with cricket betting being particularly common.
Figures are unreliable, but it is estimated that in 2016, around Rs. 2,500 crore (nearly $375 million) was wagered on one cricket match (India vs. West Indies) and Rs. 30,000 crore (nearly $4.4 billion) on the 2016 T-20 Cricket World Cup. Furthermore, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) measured the size of India's underground betting market at Rs. 3,00,000 crores (more than $42.2 billion) in a study published in 2013.
The Supreme Court of India ordered the Law Commission of India (LCI) to investigate the best way to deal with India's illegal gambling in 2016, in light of such a huge illegal betting industry and Indians' ever-present passion for gambling. In response, the LCI stated in its study that “since these practices cannot be entirely prevented, actively controlling them remains the only viable option.”
Before we get into the meat of our marijuana discussion, let's have a look at our common definition of why people gamble. In our understanding of the etiology of gambling dysfunction, biopsychosocial formulations have surpassed cognitive-behavioral systems in the last ten years or so. Genes can play a role in deciding who gambles and who doesn't, according to preliminary results from population-based studies and genome-wide association studies.
Studies demonstrating discrepancies in frontostriatal and limbic brain regions such as the striatum, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, hippocampus, and amygdala affirm a clear neurobiological substrate for the production of gambling disorder.
In light of this, this brief paper aims to analyze the reasons for and against legalizing or restricting gambling in India critically, as well as to provide recommendations for the future.
Pro-Legalization Arguments
Many of the main points in favor of legalizing and regulating India's illicit gambling/gaming industry revolve around the fact that it is a massive industry in terms of revenue. As previously said, the sums of money involved in India are enormous, as are the numbers of people involved, with betting on sporting events being the most common type of illicit gambling.
One of the main points of contention is the number of people involved. As previously stated, the LCI has recommended that, due to systematic violations of the rule, sports betting be allowed instead (albeit strictly regulated). This is, of course, the point advanced by supporters of drug and prostitution prohibition and control (both areas which have also been legalized and regulated in some countries over the years)
In both of these cases, the point being that the legislation must be founded on popular consent—if states pass regulations that are disobeyed by a large majority of the populace, it shows that such laws lack public approval. Furthermore, policing these regulations becomes a big concern due to the vast number of "lawbreakers" and the resulting potentially massive drain on police time if the law is effectively enforced.
Successful policing of the laws culminated in a vast number of citizens receiving criminal convictions, as well as many of the social problems that came with them. The challenge in finding jobs or accommodation for people with criminal records, the social and parental stigma associated with holding a criminal record, and so on.
The sum of money involved is a second major point of contention. With an annual budget of tens of billions of dollars, it stands to reason that, if properly taxed, the government could reap significant economic benefits from the size of revenue production. With increased digitalization and high internet penetration, the legal online gaming industry in India (legal games such as online poker, online rummy, and fantasy sports) has expanded multifold.
According to a 2017 report, the Indian online gaming market will be worth $1 billion by 2021. If adequately taxed, this could produce a considerable amount of money for the nation. And if more forms of gambling or gaming (such as sports betting) were to be permitted, controlled, and taxed effectively, the state and federal governments would be able to collect still more revenue.
Another point is that legalizing gambling will prevent illicit (black) funds from being used or "laundered" through illegal sports betting, which is often used to fuel terrorism and other criminal activities.
Another point is that if gambling were legalized/regulated, it would eventually generate more employment opportunities and increase tourism, resulting in economic benefit. The lawfully running casinos in Goa (an Indian state) drawing visitors and Kerala (another Indian state) state lottery offering employment opportunities and tax revenue are both commonly cited examples.
It is important to remember that in India, all lotteries are managed strictly by the state governments. In India, however, all casinos are privately held (except in Goa and Sikkim, which are legal).
Another common point in favor of legalization/regulation is that gambling just impacts a limited portion of the populace (less than 1%), and for the overwhelming majority, it is a harmless pastime with no negative implications. Why should the vast majority of people be refused a pleasurable pastime for the benefit of a select number of "irresponsible" problem gamblers?
Objections against Legalization
There are two major points against legalization/regulation, in our view. The first is that, while legislation must be approved by the people, it is also the government's responsibility to guide the people rather than merely obey common opinion, particularly where there are "public interest" motives for taking controversial paths.
There are two traditional “public interest” grounds for pursuing something: religious reasons (e.g., repealing the death penalty, as many states have done against mainstream sentiment favoring its retention) and public health reasons (e.g., mandatory seat-belt wearing, which is usually not preferred at the time of adoption, but public health considerations outweigh popular views).
Both of these viewpoints have been discussed in the context of gambling. The moral point is that, even though many people like to gamble, it is morally unethical for the government to allow it, even though it has possible benefits because gambling can be problematic and inefficient at all levels of society, from the individual to the family to the social level.
The public health point is that there is a clear correlation between intake and resulting complications, much as there is for other potentially addictive or risky habits (such as substance use): The greater the number of individuals who engage in a behavior, the more likely they are to develop problems; and for each individual who engages in that behavior, the more time they spend doing so, the more likely they are to develop problems.
As a result, the logic continues, if gambling were legalized, more people would bet, and therefore more people would become problem gamblers. As a result, if more people gamble problematically, there will be more gambling-related risks to individuals, their families, and society as a whole.
These public health beliefs are backed up by solid facts. According to research, improved affordability, and ease of access to gambling increased gambling activity as well as the prevalence of problematic gambling. As a result, it is only fair to believe that if gambling is legalized in India, combined with a high internet penetration rate and quick access to modern technologies, more people would gamble and have gambling issues.
Gambling and gambling-related disorders have been found to hurt the most marginalized in society, including the youth, the old, racial minorities, and the socially and/or economically deprived, according to research from across the world.
It's also likely that if gambling were legalized in India, problem gambling rates would be much higher than elsewhere: the only studies of gambling among school and college students in India found that, although the prevalence of gambling was low, the proportion of people who developed problem gambling among those who did gamble was significantly higher in comparison to studies from other countries.
Furthermore, people with problem gambling in both of these Indian surveys showed several negative correlations, including higher school failures, higher drug use, higher psychological disorder ratings, and higher suicidality, many of which are close to correlates seen in studies of young people in high-income countries.
Problem gambling can lead to major financial issues, including high debts, poverty, and even bankruptcy. Relationships are also greatly disturbed, conflicted, fractured, and estranged among problem gamblers.
To meet the financial demands of their gaming, gamblers are less active at work and often engage in illegal acts such as bribery and embezzlement. Furthermore, trouble gamblers have a higher prevalence of psychosomatic illness/symptoms (cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, etc.) as well as mental conditions such as anxiety, depression, drug use, and personality disturbances, which are often undetected. Increased dependency on social and health services, as well as disruption of social stability, are some of the more detrimental effects.
Furthermore, though one of the major reasons in favor of legalization is that it will eradicate illicit money and the illegal trafficking of such money from the world, there is no certainty that it will; indeed, no evidence from any country that has legalized gambling has shown this impact. As a consequence, legalizing gambling to deter money laundering or extremism financed by illicit gambling does not seem to be a reasonable or potentially valid claim.
A similar argument was proposed for India's latest demonetization experiment, in which all currency notes greater than Rs 100 (just more than US$1) were banned overnight and replaced with new currency notes over the following days and weeks.
It was suggested that doing so would flush out the potential illicit "black" money in circulation or storage because people who wanted to swap vast quantities of "demonetized" currencies for new notes would have to justify where they got the money. However, the experiment is generally considered a disappointment, since over 99 percent of the money was allegedly returned to the government with satisfactory explanations.
Finally, even if legalization/regulation were a reasonable idea in principle, the time for such a big policy reform in India is not correct, because India lacks the resources to conceive, enforce, track, or control such a massive change. As a result, it is suggested that if gambling is legalized in India without the funding to “back up” such a policy reform, it might become a careless and unfettered economic incentive for many companies eager to expand gambling around the country.
The Next Steps
Neither legalization nor the status quo is supported by unambiguous proof. Certainly, legalization may produce substantial tax revenue; however, there is a strong case to be made that, if legalization were to be proposed, even more work would need to be undertaken before making such a significant policy reform. We will now briefly discuss those proposals, which, in our opinion, must be carefully considered before India considers legalizing gambling.
First, since India is such a vast and diverse region, any potential policy reforms should be piloted in a single (or a limited number of) states before being considered for a national policy shift. Implementing such a gaming regulatory adjustment in a single state will help to keep gambling and its associated harms under control, making it easier to do pre-and post-policy change evaluations as well as applicable policy-impact analysis.
Second, given India's severe lack of local and relevant data, much more research is needed in this area so that any potential policy change can be based on Indian evidence rather than foreign research of dubious validity and applicability to the Indian context.
The prevalence of gambling in India's different states and union territories; the size of legal and illegal gambling; the level of gambling-related harm; clinicians' knowledge of gambling issues and how to locate, refer, and manage people who have them; public health aspects; treatment facilities and their efficacy, and so on, are all high-priority areas.
Third, state-wide gaming policies will need to be established in any state that would like to enact such a regulatory reform (or becoming one of the pilot states) (and maybe a national one in the future), with a committee (in each state or nationally) responsible for formulating, implementing, monitoring, and regulating those strategies.
Fourth, the gambling industry's position in policymaking and support for research, education, and treatment must be closely considered to ensure genuine "freedom" and ethical robustness.
One could take the "polluter pays" approach and compel the gambling industry to finance all treatment programs and efforts to reduce gambling-related damage, or one could believe that the gambling industry and any regulatory/advisory/policy entity should be kept apart. To allay the legal issues, a stringent ethical code of conduct for the industry's presence will need to be enforced and tracked.
Fifth, if gambling were legalized in India, it would be necessary to consider if gambling would be a government monopoly (as is the case with the selling of alcohol in some Indian states, such as Kerala, and state lotteries at the moment) or if private companies should play a part. This is critical in assessing who bears primary responsibility for reducing gambling-related damage.
Finally, whether gambling is legalized or not, India must take a public health approach to gamble and gambling-related harm reduction that includes primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.
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Final thoughts
There is currently no compelling case for legalizing gambling in India, in our opinion. Even if India were to consider such a policy shift, many crucial and difficult steps would need to be implemented first. We believe that, at this stage, more consideration should be given to the why question (why should gambling be legalized) rather than the how question (how can it be legalized). Empirical data from well-designed ethnographic and epidemiological studies across India can be used to address the why issue.
