Feature
Cricket World Cup : Whose idea was it anyway?
There might be many questions that will come to your mind during the world cup season. When was the first World Cup played? Who was the first country to host it? Who came up with the idea of hosting such a big event that is today seen and enjoyed by the millions of people across the globe? Here are some facts that would be of immense interest to the cricketing fans.
Ashes as cricket fans would know has been the most keenly contested Test match series between England and Australia much before the world cup came into existence. Once, it rained for the first three days of an Ashes test and it was decided that the rest of the match would be played for a 40 overs per side. This test match played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was for the first time when everyone knew that traditional test match format would not yield any result so rather than abandoning the match there was an idea created to play the match that will be of 40 overs for each side and each over will be of 8 balls.
This in fact initiated the possibility of limited overs matches and subsequently the idea of organizing One-Day International matches originated and the first one dayer was played on January 5, 1971. In continuation to the envolvement of the one day international format there was an idea to host the ODI World Cup and it was cricket’s governing body i.e International Cricket Council which decided to host a Cricket World Cup.
In the early 60s there were matches played by the English counties that were of limited over’s and attracted people towards cricket even more as the matches ended in a day with guaranteed result for most of the time. People used to take out a day full for the cricket match and shorter version of the game was now gaining popularity.
England was the first country to host the World Cup, however, they have never till now been able to clinch the trophy even once! The honour of winning the Cricket World Cup has not been in England’s belly till now even after four decades since the tournament started.
West Indies has been among the most successful teams to have taken the honour of lifting the World Cup twice at the beginning itself, though they have not been able to capitalize since then.
India was the second team to have won the World Cup in the 1983 and then in the year 2011 they got the trophy again and this time round in 2015 World Cup they are the defending champions.
Australian team has been the most successful team to have made a mark of ruling the Trophy for more than a decade winning the World Cup four times in which they clinched the trophy continuously for three times i.e from 1999 to 2010 after which Indian won it in 2011.
With the place and players it was always difficult to predict the World Cup winner at the start of the tournament, but the kind of pitches made in the recent times it is pretty much clear that the hosting team gets a slight benefit over the others.
With new rules and techniques World Cup 2015 would be an interesting tournament is all set to enthrall the fans.
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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