Feature
Sindhu arrives in Hyderabad to hero’s welcome
Hyderabad : Olympic silver medal winner P.V. Sindhu arrived here on Monday to a hero’s welcome.
The star shuttler was received at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport by her parents, relatives, ministers and officials from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Sindhu and her coach Pullela Gopichand were accorded a grand welcome as they came out of the airport.
Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mehmood Ali and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chinnarajappa and ministers from the two states presented bouquets.
Sporting an infectious smile and proudly displaying her medal, Sindhu came out to loud cheers by a large number of badminton players, her friends and school students.
Sindhu and Gopichand then boarded an open top bus for the ride to the Gachibowli Stadium.
Fans lined the 20 km route from the airport to the stadium to catch a glimpse of the star, who made history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the Olympics.
Politicians and officials welcomed Sindhu at special tents put up along the route. The tents were decked up with huge pictures of the star shuttler.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had erected welcome arches and installed hoardings to welcome Sindhu and Gopi.
Acharya Jai Shankar University of Agricultural Sciences at Aramgarh had installed a huge hoarding of Sindhu at its main gate.
At Gachibowli Stadium, Sindhu will take a victory lap amid the rendering of patriotic songs by a police band.
The atmosphere at the stadium was electrifying with thousands of students from various schools gathering here to welcome “silvern” Sindhu.
Carrying the national flag, students filled the stadium and kept cheering at regular intervals.
Artists were presenting cultural show on a special dais.
The GHMC, Sports Authority of Telangana, and Telangana State Olympic Association has made elaborate arrangements for a grand state reception and felicitation for Sindhu.
Huge screens were installed in the stadium to enable people to closely watch the proceedings.
After the felicitation, Sindhu will meet, at his camp office, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who has announced a reward of Rs 5 crore, a 1,000-yard plot, and a government job for her.
Andhra Pradesh has also announced Rs 3 crore cash, land and a job for Sindhu. The state government also decided to separately felicitate her.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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