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Mayawati claims BSP-SP alliance giving sleepless nights to BJP
Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday said that the alliance between her party and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections was giving the ruling BJP “sleepless nights”.
“This year my birthday has come at a time when the Lok Sabha elections are very near. And keeping the elections in mind, my party has formed an alliance with the SP which is giving sleepless nights to the BJP and also others,” she told the media as she turned 63.
On January 12, Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav announced that they will contest 38 Lok Sabha seats each in Uttar Pradesh of the total 80. The SP and BSP won’t put up candidates in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the constituencies of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress had otherwise been kept out of the alliance.
The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo also said that it was Uttar Pradesh which decides which party will form a government at the Centre. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won a whopping 71 seats while an ally bagged two more.
Appealing to party workers to vote for the alliance and forget past differences, Mayawati said: “To make this alliance a success, I appeal to all the workers of SP and BSP to forget the past differences and work for the victory of both parties’ candidates. This would be the biggest gift on my birthday.”
She also warned the party workers that the BJP was capable of spreading confusion and rumours and urged them to remain alert.
Mayawati says BSP-SP alliance giving ruling BJP ‘sleepless nights’:
Slamming both the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, the four-time Chief Minister said the BJP had lost support of the people of the state as they did not fulfil promises made in 2014.
She said it would have been beneficial to the farmers if the Modi government had implemented the Swmainathan Commission’s recommendations.
The BSP leader accused the BJP and Congress governments of corruption since independence.
“Due to the corruption, farmers, Dalits and tribals did not get opportunities to progress in life. So we had to form the BSP after getting disillusioned,” she added.
At the event, Mayawati released the 14th edition of her “Blue Book”, which details her struggles as the BSP leader.
She also wished Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple, an MP from Kannauj, on her birthday, which also falls on Tuesday.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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