Yashwant’s Request to Legalize Betting

Eminent journalist and commentator Yashwant Deshmukh has called on the Indian government to legalize betting to deal with the reduction in government revenue due to the coronovirus shutdown.

In a tweet to more than 180,000 of his followers, Deshmukh proposed four suggestions:

1. Start IPL in empty stadiums
2. Make betting legal
3. Put 28% VAT on betting
4. Start home delivery of Booze

Not all his followers agreed, with an argument his views were “disgusting”. On the other hand, while many were in favor of regulated gambling, it appears that many Indians gamble with online offshore sites, which have no obligation to pay any tax to the state. Deshmukh is not the first public figure to call for legalizing betting in India. In 2013, former cricketer Rahul Dravid and Ranjit Sinha director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), asked the government to consider legalizing sports betting to curb corruption in sports and bring in revenue through taxation.

COVID-19 nationwide Lockdown has reduced the state’s revenue by thousands of crores and the legalization of betting will result in immediate tax rewards. However, opposition is strong at the state level and with many sections of society.