Feature
DDCA official sought sex for cricket selection, says Kejriwal
New Delhi: Rising the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) issue, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal charged one of its officials of seeking sex for selecting cricketers and said he had no regret about calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “coward” and a “psychopath”.
Kejriwal said Modi, at whose order the CBI raided his office on December 15, was ready to befriend hostile Pakistan, but won’t let the Delhi chief minister work.
In an interview to NDTV, Kejriwal, whose government has set up a Commission of Inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the DDCA, said sexual favours were being sought for selecting players.
“You will be surprised to know that a senior journalist phoned me and said that his son, who plays cricket, was selected,” Kejriwal told.
“But his son’s name was not there in the list. And can you believe it… the next day his wife gets an SMS that said ‘come to my house and your son’s name will be there (in the list),” he said.
Kejriwal said the journalist was willing to depose once the Commission of Inquiry starts working.
Kejriwal, who said there were more sordid tales in the DDCA which was headed by now union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for many years.
On December 15, the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the third floor of the Delhi Secretariat — also housing the chief minister’s office — in connection with corruption charges against Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar.
However, Kejriwal alleged that the investigation agency, which reports to the central government, raided his office too and read the files related to DDCA to save Jaitley.
An incensed Kejriwal had called Modi a psychopath and coward after failing to handle the chief minister politically.
“I don’t regret anything. I accept I use bad language, I speak from the heart,” he said.
Referring to the impromptu stopover of Modi in Pakistan on his counterpart Nawaz Sharif’s birthday, Kejriwal said: “I appeal to you (Modi)… we don’t want any fight. You can befriend Pakistan, yet you won’t let Arvind Kejriwal work.”
He said Modi should decide “whether to make the DDCA inquiry null and void to protect Jaitley”.
The AAP leader has said massive bungling happened under Jaitley’s nose and he should resign and face the probe.
Refuting the allegations, Jaitley filed a defamation suit against Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party leaders.
“Mr. Jaitley was repeatedly told many times about the corruption. He was president for 14 years and a scam took place on such a large scale. The moment we said there is corruption in the DDCA, Mr. Jaitley filed a defamation suit against us.”
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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