New Delhi: With betting in IPL tournament estimated to be around Rs 66,000 crore business, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha today said there is no harm in legalising betting as there was no point in a ban which cannot be enforced.
When asked by senior editor Shekhar Gupta on his views about legalising betting, Sinha, who was on the panel of a session “Ethics and integrity in sports—need for a law and role of CBI”, said there was no harm in legalising betting in the country.
“If we can have lottery in states, if we can have casinos at holiday resorts. If the government can declare schemes of voluntary disclosure for black money, so what's the harm in legalising betting. Above all, do we have enforcement agencies (to look into it)?” he asked, adding that it's easy to call for ban than to enforce it.
When informed by a delegate during the session that officials of cricket bodies have been termed as public servants by the Supreme Court and can now be probed by CBI and states' anti-corruption agencies, Sinha said it was a revelation and he would not hesitate to probe cases of corruption if need arises.
