Legalise betting to end match-fixing, says Bindra |
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Thursday April 10, 02:42 PM
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MUMBAI (Reuters) - Senior Indian cricket board official Inderjit Bindra has called for the government to legalise betting in the country to help rid match-fixing and corruption in the sport.
"When you regulate betting and the government controls it, you have better control and supervision over match-fixing," Bindra told Reuters on Thursday. "Have everything above the surface, that's better."
India, which is the financial powerhouse of the sport, has been at the centre of several match-fixing and illegal gambling scandals after several prominent players were named in an Indian federal police investigation into match-fixing in 2000.
In 2007, West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels faced an investigation from his national board over alleged links with a bookmaker during a one-day tour of India.
Bindra's statement came a week before the multi-million dollar Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) begins on April 18.
The IPL will feature a majority of the game's leading players but made global news in February when an unprecedented $40 million auction of players by the eight franchises took place.
Bindra said there would be sufficient measures in place during the staging of the IPL to counter corruption, with the event coming under the watch of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).
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