Feature
Dalmiya’s last rites performed
Kolkata: The mortal remains of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya were consigned to the flames at the Keoratala crematorium here on Monday.
Dalmiya, 75, died at a city hospital on Sunday night after suffering massive gastrointestinal bleeding. The veteran administrator was rushed to a hospital on Thursday after he complained of chest pain. His last rites was performed at around 4 p.m.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the crematorium with mayor Sovan Chatterjee and urban development minister Firhad Hakim. Top Trinamool Congress ministers alongwith Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretaries Sourav Ganguly and Subir Ganguly were also present. Tollywood actress Rituparna Sengupta also paid her last respects to Dalmiya.
Dalmiya’s son Abhishek performed the last rites with his wife by his side. Other family members including daughter Vaishali were also present.
Earlier a host of top functionaries of the BCCI, International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman N. Srinivasan, players and others paid their homage to the well known cricket administrator.
He was also given a 21-gun salute at the Eden Gardens cricket ground.
Both Srinivasan and veteran politician Sharad Pawar, who once combined to oust the all-powerful Dalmiya as head of the Indian cricket board, hailed the man for his administrative abilities.
Among those who paid their last respects to Dalmiya here were Indian cricket team’s director Ravi Shastri, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty, Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Rajiv Shukla and former India captain Sourav Ganguly.
“He was an outstanding administrator and did a lot for Indian cricket. He was a great man,” said Srinivasan.
Pawar, who shared a bitter-sweet relationship with Dalmiya over the years, said the “void created by Dalmiya’s absence was difficult to be filled”.
“He was a true sport administrator, a dynamic personality loved by everyone in India and abroad. He was a visionary leader, a great sport administrator. He will be remembered by the world for bringing in reforms to the game of cricket,” said Thakur.
“The void created by his death cannot be filled,” said Shukla.
Media baron Subhas Chandra hailed Dalmiya for popularising the game.
“Cricket will suffer a great deal due to his absence. He not only brought wealth to Indian cricket but also to the global cricket. He brought millions and billions of dollars to the ICC,” said Chandra.
“This is a loss to the entire world of cricket. He helped not only the BCCI but also the ICC in gaining financial stability,” Ratnakar Shetty said.
“During the Sachin Tendulkar-Mike Denness controversy in which Sachin was accused of ball tampering, Dalmiya was the one who said we will play without a match referee and for the first time it happened,” he recalled, referring to the controversy in South Africa in 2001.
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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