Thoughts on Cricket, Gambling and the Indian society around it post ICC World Cup 2023….
The impact of rising sports-based gambling, political and religious identity around cricket and some thoughts on solving it….
Recently, the world witnessed the Cricket World Cup which is organized once every 4 years by the International Cricket Council or ICC. And as the reputation goes, cricket is a huge part of the Indian culture. It is almost like a religion. This time, besides being the host nation India reached the finals making it an even bigger occasion than it already usually is. That huge phenomenon and its aftermath also brought to my attention a few observations and my unavoidable contemplation.
The rise of sports-based gambling
I don’t follow sports but I observe people around me who pretty much worship their favourite sports, players and teams. Sports in general or any specific sport, in particular, ain’t the problem when it comes to the gambling-based problems associated with sports. Sports are popular because they satisfy some of the primitive emotions of humans without shedding blood.
And then gambling is popular because it ticks the instant gratification, risk-taking and shortcut mentality brain cells.
When you combine these not-so-sustainable emotions, you have something that’s extremely addictive… What’s addictive gathers strong attention and what gathers strong attention can be easily monetized.
I’ve seen people lose money betting on their favourites. I’ve seen people bet money just for the thrill of it. I’ve seen people who don’t give a fuck about the games bet money very strategically and win better than the passionate fans.
You can either regulate it or take advantage of it. And we can see which route is being taken. Although, technically speaking, gambling is illegal in India. The Public Gambling Act of 1867 is a central law that prohibits running or being in charge of a public gambling house. But practically almost no action is being taken against curbing the problems caused by gambling in India. This inaction is very prominent when it comes to the popular subjects and mediums of gambling nationally. The most prominent subject being IPL or the Indian Premier League and the most popular medium being the gamified gambling platforms.
In recent years, India has seen a rapid rise in fantasy sports platforms. These platforms like Dream11 etc allow players to build fictional teams based on real players and bet on them. Although these are not casinos in legal terms, they are essentially gambling platforms in practical terms. These surround various popular sports like baseball and football in the USA. Cricket being the biggest sport in India, that’s their focus here. This industry has grown so rapidly that some of these companies have even become unicorns hiring famous crickets as ambassadors for advertisement.
When done professionally, gambling has lotta skills involved. But gambling is largely targeted towards people hoping to get lucky because the more they lose, the more money rackets make. And that’s what’s happening like an epidemic, people who can’t afford to lose money losing it over hopes of quick gains.
The other problem comes with trying to curb vices like these by banning them. Because making vices illegal has been historically proven to be a bad move. The war on drugs globally and the state of sex workers in India are good examples of it… Countries like Norway are good examples of handling it better by regulating and offering help instead of harsh punishment. Another route that I really like when it comes to vices like these including gambling is the alcohol license system in UAE. You cannot buy alcohol there without an alcohol license. You need to meet some basic income criteria to get a license and the license dictates the limit you can spend on alcohol based on your income.
The role of diversity in national sports teams
Although India lost the final match against Australia this World Cup, India reached the finals big winning every single match along the way. One of the key players with the greatest contribution to that performance was the bowler Mohammed Shami. He, as the name indicates, is a muslim in a hindu majority nation with a hindu nationalist ruling government. The fever dream of the ruling regime and their fans is to turn [relatively] secular India into a hindu rashtra, a theocratic state. If we take the example of any theocracy to ever exist in the history of mankind, we know that people outside the select few of the ruling class have practically no rights. In a theocratic hindu nation, the national team would have no muslim players, ie, there would be no Mohammed Shami in the Indian Cricket Team. We probably wouldn’t even reach the finals.
India reaching the finals with Mohammed as the man of the match for the semifinal was a very happy and proud moment for India. But in that moment of pride and happiness, it was also important to point out the hypocrisy and folly no matter how popular they were. When Mohammad has a bad day bhakts, or supporters of the ruling hindu nationalist party, call him a “traitor”, a “Pakistani”, or a “terrorist” among other slurs. When he underperforms occasionally like a human he faces islamophobia and racial slurs, but when he performs well he is celebrated as an Indian. This is a hypocrisy of the hindu nationalists that should be addressed and corrected.
The Indian Cricket team is a good group of friends which is expected from a national team that plays together. But the Indian Cricket Team ain’t a good example when it comes to taking a stand on issues. Being some of the most sought-after celebrities in the nation, they are too careful not to scare away brand deals. We have much better role models from the sports world in that regard. For example our captain Sunil Chhetri, our golden boy Neeraj Chopra etc.
The petty treatment of Pat Cummins and the aftermath
Just like his friend Donald Trump, Narendra Modi is very hypocritical and narcissistic to the point that it is visible in plain sight. With the 2024 elections coming, everything is an election campaign for the ruling BJP government. The ICC World Cup is no exception to that. BCCI being the richest and most powerful cricket board, made sure the final was hosted in the new stadium named after the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. So, when India lost the final, he clearly was disappointed. Now, disappointment is natural. As an Indian, even I was sad although I had nothing to gain from it and I don’t even follow sports. But when as a representative of a nation, you act petty to the point where you leave the captain of the winning team alone on the stage after barely handing over the trophy, you are hurting the image of the entire nation.
The interesting development was the aftermath of the very problematic response the Australian team and some of their associates faced from the Indian crowd. While many faced abuses online, some Indian relatives of Australian players even faced rape threats. Mitchell Marsh posted a photo of him chilling with his legs resting on the World Cup trophy. And that sparked a huge online backlash with Indians considering that to be a show of disrespect to the tournament. Comparisons to Indian customs of touching feet and other cultures of showing respect flooded the internet. A common comparison was with an old photo of Kapil Dev with the then World Cup trophy over his head.
There are two important things to note here. A lot of these rituals of showing respect in Indian cultures have very problematic roots. For example, the tradition of touching feet is rooted in casteism. The whole mentality of putting inanimate objects on a pedestal so high that they take priority over living beings is very problematic. And what’s an ingrained part of culture in one nation is very different from another. Hence misguided sentiments like these are very irrelevant when they are about the trophy of an international competition that has almost nothing to do with the culture of one single nation.
Closing thoughts
As the nation is healing from the hurt of getting so close and yet losing the trophy, I have some questions.
If you really think a hindu rashtra will be a better place to live in than a secular India, show one theocracy to ever exist in the history of mankind which was/is a good place to live in for anyone outside the select few ruling class? And are you sure, you won’t be the other as soon as the current others are taken care of?
You say that the concept of hindurastra is about protecting the hindu culture. Which “hindu culture” are you referring to? Because the “hindu culture” in one state of India is very different from another. Or are you talking about the common themes like casteism, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, sexism, encroaching native tribal lands etc.? India is already a hindu majority nation with most of the leaders in the position of power being hindus. And the Indian subcontinent has a very diverse history that goes far beyond the history of hinduism.
You say that you want a hindurashtra because no other nation hosts hindus. But Nepal has had hinduism as a state religion for a very long time. Different parts of India have been under different hindu rulers who frequently fought with each other besides looting and pillaging neighbours.
You say BJP has moved on from hindu/muslim. You say to leave religion and politics out of sports. But the ruling BJP is still protecting the rapist Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh completely ignoring the outcries of the Indian wrestlers who brought us international medals making the nation proud.
So tell me, what do you really expect a hindurashtra to achieve that can be a positive outcome?