The weekend saw the beginning of an international sporting tournament that Canada has managed to get to the finals of. Granted, they probably don’t have much chance of winning the Cricket World Cup but we like to think here at CalvinAyre.com that they might win something other than an Ice Hockey gold medal in team sports.
Cricket itself doesn’t have anywhere near the squeaky image it once had many moons ago, and the latest stories coming out of India may well move the Asian country to finally consider regulating the sports betting market.
Even before the tournament had started, you’d have been more surprised were there no stories to do with betting on the tournament in a country where it’s illegal.
According to AFP, investigators raided two hotels in New Delhi yesterday, seizing laptops and mobile phones allegedly used by bookies to take bets on matches.
“We have broken four betting gangs and are tracing other gambling dens active in the city,” senior police officer Ashok Chand told AFP.
They had already taken bets during the opening game of the tournament, in which India smashed Bangladesh, of up to $620,000 and since this is only one such illegal racket it’s likely that millions were bet on the opening game.
Indian authorities really have missed a beat here though. The most popular sport in the country by a million miles is cricket and to be able to take the proceeds from regulated betting during one of the biggest events in the sport could have been a gold mine.
