Feature
About a fifth of votes cast in Jammu
Jammu: Braving the winter chill, about one-fifth of the voters Saturday exercised their franchise in the initial hours in the last phase of the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly elections, an official said.
The Election Commission official said after a dull start, voters started to line up at many polling stations in Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts.
Nearly 18 percent voter turnout was recorded during the first two hours, he said. Polling started at 8 a.m. and will 
end at 4 p.m.
Polling is being held in 20 of 87 assembly constituencies. Over 18 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 213 candidates.
At a model polling station in Gandhinagar area, arrangements have been made by the poll authorities to serve tea to the voters.
Adequate arrangements have been made in the polling stations lying close to the international border and Line of Control in Jammu district, Ajeet Kumar Sahu, district election officer, told.
Contingency arrangements have also been made to shift polling stations to safer locations if there is any incident of firing from across the border, Sahu said.
Security checkposts have also been set up to ensure that subversive elements are prevented from interfering with the democratic process, he added.
In Jammu East, Jammu West, Bishnah, Marh and Nagrota constituencies, considerable numbers of voters had turned up at the polling stations.
In the border constituencies of R.S. Pura, Suchetgarh and Akhnoor, voters came out in larger numbers compared with urban centres.
Women voters outnumbered men in Kathua district’s Hiranagar border constituency.
In far-flung Bani and Billawar constituencies of Kathua, voting started on a low key although poll officials said the process would pick up as the fog lifts and the day warmed up.
In the four constituencies of Rajouri, Kalakote, Darhal and Nowshera in Rajouri district, voting was slow in the morning.
In Jammu district’s Chhamb constituency, the majority of voters are farmers who also rare milch cattle besides tending their agricultural fields.
Even if you want to restrain your conversation to the day’s voting and future expectations, the voters vent their anger before talking about anything else.
“You have seen this road? It has not be metalled nor black-topped since 1998. It has been the same for the last 18 years. What is true of the road is true of everything else here,” said , a taxi driver of Hamirpur village.
“Whatever the ultimate result of the assembly elections elsewhere, we are voting for change. Our lives have become hell due to border shelling and complete neglect by the people in power,” Singh, 45, said.
The vote count takes place Dec 23.
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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