Cricket, cash, and crime: the IPL betting crisis and the need for a robust sports integrity framework

This paper critically examines the requirement for a holistic framework for sports integrity in India with special reference to the legal/legal challenges of illegal betting and match fixing in high stakes events like the Indian Premier League. It examines the shortcomings in the existing legislative instruments like the Public Gambling Act, 1867 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 in possessing the potential to proscribe different forms of corruption that appear in the field of sports. Based on the approach adopted by courts of law in other jurisdictions like the United Kingdom and Australia, the study argues that there needs to be a focus on a central governing authority and strong compliance mechanisms as well as multithreaded collaboration. The research urges for codification of anti-corruption, harmonized regulation of the state, technological surveillance of betting irregularities and player incentivisation to engender the rule of law in the sporting domain. This study further contributes to the discourse on reforming India’s legal architecture to enhance sports governance against the transnational and domestic illicit influences with the help of jurisprudential insights along with policy prescription.