"The RS Lodha committee has recommended for legalising betting in India with certain safeguards."Do you think legalising betting will eliminate the malpractices in sports? Discuss critically.

In order to curb corruption in cricket, betting in cricket should be legalized is being stated by RS Lodha committee. Except players and officials, all other people should be allowed to place their bets on registered websites.
Legalizing betting will help in eradicating unethical elements in the sports.
In India, the main challenge to legalise betting is to deal with the stigma attached to betting among Indian citizens.
Legalising betting in sports may put a check on flow of black money into the economy and it will bring significant revenue for the government annually. Legalising betting could provide an opportunity to casual sports bettors. The legal platform makes it easy for monitoring and enforcing authorities. It would help people delink from underworld because majority of the betting rockets are run by the underworld.
But legalising betting may be risky as it could become catalyst for other unethical activities like spot-fixing and match-fixing. So, enforcing authorities must focus on curbing other illegal activities.
Legalising betting would work only when it is supported with required enabling mechanisms like the sports fraud legislation, strong anti-corruption units in sports bodies, cooperation for states, etc.

Topics: GS-III: Indian Economy Issues Relating to Planning