Bindra: Legalise betting
2008-04-10 12:30
Mumbai - Senior Indian cricket board official Inderjit Bindra has called for the government to legalise betting in the country to help rid match-fixing and corruption in the sport.
"When you regulate betting and the government controls it,
you have better control and supervision over match-fixing,"
Bindra said on Thursday. "Have everything above the
surface, that's better."
India, which is the financial powerhouse of the sport, has
been at the centre of several match-fixing and illegal gambling
scandals after several prominent players were named in an
Indian federal police investigation into match-fixing in 2000.
In 2007, West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels faced an
investigation from his national board over alleged links with a
bookmaker during a one-day tour of India.
Bindra's statement came a week before the multi-million
dollar Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) begins on April 18.
The IPL will feature a majority of the game's leading
players but made global news in February when an unprecedented
$40m auction of players by the eight franchises took
place.
Bindra said there would be sufficient measures in place
during the staging of the IPL to counter corruption, with the
event coming under the watch of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and
Security Unit (ACSU).