Cricket is really a religion for a lot of Indians.

But, of late, this religion has been somewhat soiled by allegations of players working with illegal bookmakers to repair not only the outcome with the matches but also precise bowling and batting action in the game.

Now, some Indians are saying that, as a solution, they want the practice of sports betting to become legalized.

A survey conducted among 200 organizations by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Sector reported that 74 percent of respondents voted that “legalizing sports betting will assistance curb match fixing problem.”

Indian law prohibits betting on sports, except on games for example horse racing. However the underground betting market place is worth virtually $52 billion in India, says the business association.

In the most current scandal to hit the colonial game last month, police arrested star players and illegal bookmakers, accusing them of manipulating an immensely preferred and lucrative tournament referred to as the Indian Premier League.

Police said the players have been signaling bookies in the field by tucking the towel into the trousers, touching wrist-bands, and flashing a neck-chain to indicate after they had been ready to play dirty.

“Cricket, which arouses primal passion amongst Indians, has been reduced to a charade,” said Abhijit Sarkar, co-chairman on the sports committee on the market body, mentioned at a conference in New Delhi.

The government has promised a hard new law to crack down around the difficulty by August.

Advocates of legalizing betting say it is going to unlock business enterprise opportunity, produce tax revenue and clean up the practice by bring it out from the dark.

But is India ready for this shift? Gambling is traditionally frowned upon in India, and has been since ancient Hindu epics have been written.

“Betting continues to be not observed as a behavior that enjoys social approval,” S. N. Srivastava, special commissioner of your city police who’s investigating final month’s cricket fraud. “Should we legalize it only since we are not able to enforce the ban totally? The country just isn’t ready.”

He stated it’ll adversely have an effect on poorer, uneducated Indians who could be more likely to pour their life’s savings into sports bets.

George Oborne, managing director of IndiaBet.com, said India’s gambling laws are determined by a 19th century British colonial-era law, and must be urgently re-written for the 21st century reality of on the web betting.