It Is Just Not Cricket
The game of cricket now stands tarnished by betting and fixing match outcomes through corrupt practices. Star players and club officials are involved and there is evidence of major matches, even during the World Cup being compromised. The spread of illega
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Abstract The game of cricket now stands tarnished by betting and fixing match outcomes through corrupt practices. Star players and club officials are involved and there is evidence of major matches, even during the World Cup being compromised. The spread of illegal betting in cricket has expanded with the advent of technology. Internet based betting sites coupled with unregulated nature of betting in Asian economies, particularly India, has facilitated growth of illegal gambling. This has encouraged the entry of underworld crime syndicates to manipulate games and outcomes for massive gambling profits. The result has been major corruption scandals and questions about the sports itself. This paper describes the betting phenomenon and some major incidents associated with the growing corruption in cricket. The policy responses of major cricket playing nations are presented, along with suggestions for strategies to be adopted to curb corruption in cricket.
Introduction The prevalence of game of chance dates back to ancient times in India. There are references to gambling and betting in folklore and religious scriptures. In fact, gambling using dice to play on checkerboard was the starting point of the great mythological war depicted in the epic Mahabharata, dating back to 1500 BCE. During the
H. Qureshi (*) School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, 665 Dyer Hall, 2600 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. Verma Department of Criminal Justice, Indiana University -Bloomington, 307 Sycamore Hall, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA e-mail: [email protected]
M.R. Haberfeld and D. Sheehan (eds.), Match-Fixing in International Sports: Existing Processes, Law Enforcement, and Prevention Strategies, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02582-7_4, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013
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medieval period, when much of India was ruled by a succession of Islamic dynasties, gambling, along with drinking, was officially proscribed, in keeping with the requirements of Sharia (Islamic law), which prohibits maisir (monetary gains from chance or speculation). Yet gambling remained ubiquitous, and was especially popular in the Mughal court. Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India, is believed to have introduced ganjifa (a precursor to poker). Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal, appointed muhtasaibs (censors of public morals) to suppress public passion for gambling and alcohol consumption without much lasting effect. In modern times, betting is widespread in both rural and urban areas in India, with activity increasing around the time of festivals, particularly, Diwali. Organized crime syndicates operating ‘matka’ a form of gambling based on selecting numbers from a set has also been going on for decades. Mumbai based mafia has been known to be behind these bets placed around the country with large sums involved. Horse racing has been another form of gambling attracting the rich but has been limited to few selected metropolitan cities only. Though betting takes plac
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