The Hindu Business Line : Betting on a betting law

IN Encarta bookie appears after Booker Prize and means a bookmaker, that is, somebody who takes bets and pays out money to people who win. A few bookies have been in the news for stating they got tips from former test cricketers, evoking stout rebuttals from the named players. Yet, it should be interesting that www.gamebookers.com is offering 2,000 bets in 21 sports. I'm led to the site from a report on the www.theinquirer.net by `our Crime Correspondent' that the `online bookie takes bets on Michael Jackson verdict'. There are options on the bookie's site for almost all the popular sports, such as boxing, soccer and so on. For instance, `Durham v Derbyshire' is the June 13 cricket match for which they're accepting bets, while `Stratford 2.10' figures under horseracing. There is a `financial' section too, taking `range bets' for indices such as DAX and FTSE.

"Founded in 1998 and operates today licensed online, phone and offline betting operations in the UK, Ireland, Austria, Romania and Antigua & Barbuda," informs the site. "With over 1,45,000 customers worldwide, the gamebookers family of betting Web sites is one of the leading players in the online betting industry. The group handles over 21 million bets per year and paid in 2004 alone more than euro 135 million in winnings to its customers." Licence No: 2102 granted by the Financial Services Regulatory Commission is said to be `active since' April 1, 2000.

For the Jackson bet, the bookie seems to be offering "odds of the singer being found guilty at 7/25 of the child molestation charges, and 15/1 that he will spend over 20 years in the clink if he's found guilty," reports The Inquirer. "And it's offering odds of 13/5 that whatever happens he will release an album within the next two years." Oddly, politics doesn't feature as one of the hot options.

"The exact origin of gambling is unknown," concedes www.jobmonkey.com when talking about jobs in the casino industry. "The Chinese recorded the first official account of the practice in 2300 B.C., and it is generally believed that gambling, in one form or another, has been present in almost every society since." One learns that there was a law in the Roman Empire that all children were to be taught to gamble and throw dice! You don't have to go beyond Mahabharata to see gambling of epic proportions.

Ms Katherine van Wormer, professor of social work at the University of Northern Iowa (www.uni.edu) , says that economic gains provided by gaming venues aren't worth the social costs. "For every $1 the state gains from a gambling establishment, there are $3 in social costs," she says, adding up under social costs "divorces, bankruptcies, and embezzlements and other crimes". Wish we had a study in the Indian context too.

I can foresee a move by a Minister to ban gambling in movies and TV programmes so as to set the right example for children, even if it meant loss of revenue to the exchequer. But the fact remains that we indulge all the time in some form of betting often with oneself - that the public transport would come on time, or that there would be the much longed for raise in the payslip. In a way, even opinion polls seem to border on betting, though with no money involved.

For the hardnosed, a document to catch up is the one from the UK's regulator, Financial Services Authority (www.fsa.gov.uk) . Dated May 18, it is titled "Equity contracts for difference (CFDS) and spread betting thematic project" and speaks of `visits to 17 firms' and notes that business letters used by firms were, in some cases, " overly complex and appeared to be unfair to consumers". Another communiqué of the FSA issued in July 2004 to the CEOs of financial and sports spread betting firms mentions the key risk of spread betting - that "the consumer can incur liabilities in excess of their initial stake".

In India, there is the Public Gambling Act of 1867 that finds a mention in the `CBI's Report on Cricket Match Fixing and Related Malpractices' posted at www.icc-cricket.com. States have their own legislation for the purpose, as for instance, Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act of 1887 and the Delhi Public Gambling Act of 1955. Perhaps, it's time for a coherent law on the activity, not ignoring its revenue potential.

E&OE@TheHindu.co.in

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