Ex-ICC chief says India is illegal betting hub
Ehsan Mani, who headed the ICC between 2003 and 2006, estimated that Sunday's Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan in Dhaka attracted $500 million-worth of bets, but did not say how he had arrived at the figure.
"Unless the betting industry is brought under control in India, you can't stop match-fixing," he told the New Delhi-based Mail Today in an interview.
"There's no doubt that India, certainly Delhi and Mumbai, is the epicentre of cricket betting."
"I'm a strong advocate of legalising betting in India, and bringing it under control of regulatory authorities so that... the conduct of bookies can be monitored properly," he added.
"You'll find that the risk of corrupting players around the world will reduce significantly."
Mani urged the ICC, headed by federal Indian minister Sharad Pawar, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), to pressure the government to legalise betting.
"It's a matter of how you control it because there's no way, I believe, that it can be stamped out in India. So, if (it) can't be stamped out, how do they control it in a way that it can stop corrupting the game."
Mani, a Pakistani chartered accountant, said India should look at the legal gambling systems in Britain and Australia.
Legal betting firms inform the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) if they encounter suspicious betting patterns, Mani said.
Mani said lucrative Twenty20 tournaments such as the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash in Australia, had emboldened illegal bookies.
"Obviously, high profile matches like the IPL and Big Bash leave a lot of scope for players to be corrupted; whether they are being corrupted or not, I can't say," he said.
"I think IPL must have added hugely to the cricket betting industry in India."
BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla was not available to comment on Mani's remarks.
Cricket has been under a cloud since 2000 when three former captains - the late Hansie Cronje of South Africa, Mohammad Azharuddin of India and Salim Malik of Pakistan - were handed life bans for their alleged dealing with bookmakers.
Three Pakistani cricketers were last year jailed in Britain after being found guilty of spot-fixing. Indian bookmakers have often being accused of underhand dealings with players.
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They bet, but Pakistan cricketers sell our souls. They want to get rich. And there is always a "brother Butt" at hand to make an Amir "Ameer".
Indian Government is too weak to make such decisions... in fact, they are also involved in the illegal betting... IPL5 will end up making quite a few indian politicians very rich so why would they ban it... pathetic....
why no action taken on the bookies network in india..they are disturbing whole world cricket and our players bacame scapegoats. (Aamir Asif )
@M. Khan: If betting is regulated then all betting agents can be taxed which is a source of revenue. Also if a sport is fixed in a transparent regulated betting system the betting agent who is involved in fixing makes money against the trend and can be very easily caught. This is the reason that bookies in the regulated betting industry in Uk and Australia are not likely to be involved in fixing sports matches unlike in unregulated betting jurisdictions like India and Pakistan and Dubai .to understand this you have to understand the betting markets economics. In Australia and uk this industry is part of the declared economy whilst in India Pakistan Dubai these are under the radar and are part of the hidden economy which finances other criminal activity and is a source of income for the corrupt inspector as opposed to funding the state and not the underworld and the corrupt inspector.
Thats it. The truth is out. Ban India, BCCI and ICC. Everything.
So it takes a former ICC chief for the truth to come out about something that is common knowledge anyway. His suggestion makes sense, but obviously with such large sums of money involved no one would want to be regulated. ICC and BCCI need to do their share for cleaning up the game.
Keep dreaming. Betting legalization is not going to happen anytime soon in India. Probably after 2020.
and India is the epicenter of terrorism and pakistan is the victim.
Mani shaab: betting, legal or illegal is betting. But who are accepting these bribes and bringing their country to dirt? If they do not take the bribes there is no 'illegal' betting.