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![[Horse Betting]](16lead.gif)
Nidhi Taparia Rathi
Whether you live in Madurai or Moradabad, Agartala or Aurangabad you may soon be able to bet on your favourite horses without going to a racecourse.
Recently, the Maharashtra government gave into the long-standing demand of Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) and announced that it would allow online betting for races held at the Mumbai and Pune racecourses.
The stakes are enormous. According to Vivek Jain, Chairman, Marketing, RWITC, horseracing tots up an annual turnover of Rs 1000 crore in India, of which Mumbai accounts for nearly Rs 120 crore. He estimates the illegal betting market to be worth Rs 1100 crore.
Not surprisingly, many Web sites are queuing up to catch a piece of this action.
One of them is Betsetgo.com. Explains CEO Gopi Rao, "We have been preparing to offer online betting for a year now. We have signed an MoU with the RWITC to offer this service."
He says the site has got its basic infrastructure in place. "We have tested the actual program to accept wagers and we also have plans to offer a prepaid card to users. Once the legalities are in place we plan to open centres in districts and towns where there is no horse racing."
In fact, it is in places where there are no racecourses that online betting could really catch on. This could spread the user base wider and bring more people into the horseracing fold.
Bharat Shah, owner of EquineIndia.com, says, "In India, it is not considered a matter of pride to be wagering on horses. Initially, we would have users signing up with fake email addresses during free registration. Today, the Internet has brought the punters and gamblers out of the closet. We have about 2,500 members, including people from the UK, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Singapore, in our database. All of them are waiting to bet on Indian horseracing."
He feels, however, that the upper limit of Rs 2,500 per bet fixed by the government could be a downer for heavy hitters.
Punters across the country are keenly watching the developments. Deepak Rai, a Chennai-based entrepreneur and avid racegoer, is keen to try it out. But he needs to be assured about the credibility and functionality of a site before he is ready to bet. "I would look for a site that provides features like real-time odds and reliable ways of payments and receipts."
Real-time odds are something few sites are in a position to offer. Currently most horseracing sites - and there are nearly 20 of them -- display only 'night odds' and '12 o'clock odds' which users say are way off the mark. Betsetgo says it would offer tote dividends (total prize money divided by the winning tickets).
"The odds currently on Web sites never truly reflect the odds on the racecourse," says Rai. "But if the sites are able to offer tote dividends that would be good alternative, especially for people in cities that don't have a racecourse."
Ram Kumar, another racegoer, feels that people would be wary of having all their bets on the record. "The last thing a punter wants is the Income Tax department wondering where they got so much money to play and lose."
He feels if Web sites offer him a good environment for betting, he might end up betting more on races online and not go to a racecourse at all. "Online betting has already got novices excited…" he says. "I see a lot of them discussing odds put up by sites like Indiarace.com and even use the information available online before they bet."
Online betting may also offer relief from the heartburn caused by errant bookies. Says Rai, "Sometimes, they have pencilled the figures on a particular horse wrong and that can be very distressing. A few have been cheated out of their money's worth. These Web sites could curb such practices." He believes that only around 40 to 50 percent of the current racing clan might use the Internet to bet. "I don't see the gambler who bets Rs 50-60 turning to the Internet because he may not get his winnings back immediately."
Besides, many punters prefer to wager their bets with bookies because they can evade tax. These racegoers are unlikely to patronise online betting. But argues Shah: "The government plans reduce taxes by almost half (from 20 per cent to nine per cent, thus bringing the margins on par with those offered by bookies illegally), this will prompt a lot of users to go online. Besides, since it brings in more transparency, it will make both the government and the punter happy!"
About the proliferation of racing Web sites, Rai thinks they work well as an information tool for beginners. "I think it would be a while before they replace form books or even self-developed systems of betting. Racing essentially still remains a sport where you compete with yourself, against the unknown, not against anybody else. As for me, I would prefer to go to race course to watch the race."
Vivek Jain thinks it's still a few months before online betting really begins. "The audience will grow very slowly. In fact, initially, it might be restricted only to the residents of Maharashtra and then take off to other cities. It all depends on how the government goes about it."
For now, the State Commissioner of Lotteries is drawing up a set of rules to regulate online gambling and the distribution of profits. The state government also plans to issue tenders inviting private firms to set up online betting.
Till then, Net savvy punters will just have to hold their horses.
Additional Resources:
-- RediffSearch - Horse Racing
-- Horse Racing: Eight sites
-- Wanna Bet? The gambling bug hits the Net
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