Feature
Mix of Bollywood, glamour, sports in latest ‘Panama Papers’ expose
New Delhi:A consortium that unsuccessfully bid for an Indian Premier League franchise — which included actors Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Karisma Kapoor, industrialist Venugupal Dhoot’s firms and Pune-based realtors Chordia family — had investments by an offshore company.
Stating this in its latest “Panama Papers” expose, The Indian Express on Thursday reported that 10 members had entered into a pact to form P-Vision Sports to bid for IPL Pune franchise, in which 15 percent was earmarked for the offshore firm, Obdurate Ltd in British Virgin Islands.
It was shut after failing to win the bid, the newspaper said.
In the sports consortium, the largest stake of 33 percent was held by the Chordia family, 4.5 percent each by Kareena and Karisma, 9 percent each by Saif and Mumbai resident Manoj S. Jain and 25 percent by Dhoot through two group companies. Obdurate was earmarked 15 percent.
Dhoot said he was concerned only with the 25 percent in P-Vision sports and did not know of Obdurate, while Atul Chordia said his group always owned 100 percent of the sports company and that the offshore entity never held any share in it.
As regards others, the newspaper said, Kareena Kapoor’s office informed she was not in town, Jain was not available for comment and Saif did not respond to messages and e-mails.
Indian authorities, led by Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, have said not every off-shore company opened by an Indian need be illegitimate, and that this would be the primary task of a probe team that has been set up as per orders by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The latest expose by Indian Express had another story with a sports link: That Lokesh Sharma, managing director of sports management major Twenty First Century Media, has two companies of his own registered in the tax haven of British Virgin Islands. The third is a subsidiary of the sports company.
Sharma told the Express that while a company in British Virgin Islands, Margarita Services, was intended to be acquired through an overseas solicitor, he neither proceeded on the matter, nor did he receive any share of the company operated or managed by the entity.
As regards another firm, Mardi Gras Holdings, he said he has been complying with relevant Indian laws and that the tax returns for the same for the year ended March 31, 2016 were not due yet. In the third entity, Peppermint Management, Sharma said he was compliant and Reserve Bank of India was informed.
The newspaper has been carrying the stories as part of a global expose of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and over 100 global media organisations, dubbed the “Panama Papers”, based on millions of leaked documents of a Panama law firm Mossak Fonseca.
Among others named in the expose on Thursday included a Delhi-based tyre dealer, a boutique owner, the daughter of an Australian mining billionaire, a textiles exporter, an engineering company owner, metals firm’s directors and a chartered accountant.
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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