Feature
Chill grips North India, mercury continues to dip
New Delhi: Nine deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh as a severe cold wave gripped northern India on Saturday with Himachal Pradesh’s Keylong and Jammu and Kashmir’s Kargil registering minus 13.9 and minus 15.6 degrees Celsius, respectively, while the national capital here recorded its lowest temperature of the season. According to the weather office, another spell of rain and snowfall was expected both in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir on January 15 and 16.
With this the weatherman has predicted even harsher weather in the next few days as Siberian winds and a western disturbance were expected to bring down the temperatures further. With the Uttar Pradesh capital registering a dip of more than seven degrees, at least nine deaths were reported from Kannauj and Kanpur rural since Friday, an official said on Saturday.
The Met office said that the mercury would dip steadily till January 19 after which the weather conditions might improve in the state. All schools upto class VIII have been shut down till Monday. The minimum temperature in Lucknow was recorded at 0.4 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest place in the state. The regional Met office said that it was the lowest in several years.
Intense cold wave has gripped the Kashmir Valley as it passes through the 40-day period of harsh cold — ‘Chillai Kalan’ — which began on December 21 and would end on January 30. All water bodies in the valley were either completely or partially frozen. Gulmarg and Pahalgam recorded minus 14.4 and minus 12 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Similar conditions were witnessed in most parts of Himachal Pradesh as prominent tourist towns like Shimla, Narkanda, Kufri, Kalpa, Dalhousie and Manali were likely to experience light to moderate spells of snowfall in the coming days. Delhi on Saturday recorded its lowest temperature of the season with the mercury dipping to 3.2 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season’s average, a weather official said.
“The maximum temperature of the day was likely to hover around 20 degrees Celsius,” said an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Humidity at 11.30 a.m. was 70 per cent with visibility recorded upto 800 metres.
Friday’s minimum temperature was recorded at 4.3 degrees Celsius, which was three notches below the season’s average while on Thursday the mercury dipped to two degrees Celsius at some places here but at the Safdarjung observatory (considered standard for the city), the lowest temperature recorded was at 3.4 degrees Celsius.
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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