Feature
Frequent spats with North Korea fear Americans of World War III
New York: Frequent spats with North Korea and a “reckless” attitude displayed by US President Donald Trump have prompted the fear of a World War III among most Americans, a survey has revealed.
Led by researchers at Chapman University in the US, the “Survey of American Fears 2017” showed that the fright of a menacing world war looms large.
It is also a new entrant into the list of “Top 10 fears” since the first survey was conducted in 2014.
“Americans need to unlearn ‘Duck and Cover’ and replace it with ‘Get inside. Stay Inside. Stay Tuned’,” said Ann Gordon, Director at the university’s Henley Lab.
“Duck and Cover” that 70 per cent of Americans are familiar with came up during the Cold War with the USSR, which is now “obsolete”, Gordon said.
This fear was corroborated by Republican Senator Bob Corker earlier this week.
Corker had warned that Trump was treating his office like “a reality show” with reckless threats toward other countries that could set the nation “on the path to World War III”, the New York Times reported on Monday.
Reckless attitude of US towards North Korea fears Americans of World War III:
The survey showed that 48 per cent of Americans fear North Korea using nuclear weapons and 41 per cent fear a nuclear attack. The prospect of a nuclear meltdown troubles 31 per cent of all Americans.
Concern and fears about the environment, which had never cracked the Top 10 fears in any previous surveys, also figured more prominently in the 2017 edition.
Environment fears included pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes (53.1 per cent), closely followed by pollution of drinking water (50.4 per cent), global warming and climate change (48 per cent) and air pollution (44.9 per cent).
Following the reversal of the environmental policies of the previous Barack Obama administration by Trump, the researchers felt these green fears grew.
Trump, who had called the Climate Change a “hoax”, earlier had pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement on curbing global warming.
Three out of five Americans reported fear of Islamic extremists/Jihadists as a threat to national security. White supremacists featured as a threat to national security among 51 per cent.
For the survey, the team included more than 1,207 adults from across the nation and all walks of life.
The 2017 survey data is organised into four basic categories: personal fears, natural disasters, paranormal fears and fear of extremism.
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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