Feature
JD-U, RJD issue whips to vote for Nitish
Patna: The ruling JD-U and its ally RJD on Tuesday issued whips to their legislators to vote on Wednesday in support of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to help him prove his majority in the Bihar legislative assembly.
Janata Dal-United chief whip Sharavan Kumar, who is also the parliamentary affairs minister, said the whip was also applicable to JD-U rebels led by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
“Any legislator found voting against the whip will loss membership of the state assembly,” Sharavan told the media.
Nitish Kumar will seek a vote of confidence in the assembly on Wednesday, 17 days after he was sworn in.
The JD-U’s ally Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad also issued whip to its legislators to vote for Nitish Kumar.
“The RJD has issued whip to its legislators to support Nitish Kumar to ensure that he smoothly proves his majority in the assembly,” RJD legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui told the media.
Siddiqui said the RJD was behind Nitish Kumar to counter the BJP.
Manjhi on Tuesday held a closed door meeting with nearly a dozen legislators considered loyal to him to discuss the situation in view of the JD-U whip.
“We discussed this issue and will take the right decision,” said former minister Brishen Patel, considered close to Manjhi.
The JD-U has the support of its allies — the RJD, the Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
Nitish Kumar had resigned as chief minister last year after the JD-U’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls. Manjhi, who was made chief minister in May 2014, resigned on February 20 after a political crisis.
In the 243-member assembly, the JD-U has 115 legislators. The party has the support of 24 RJD legislators, five of the Congress, two independents and a CPI member.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has 88 legislators and it is supported by three independents.
BJP legislators also met here on Tuesday to finalise the party’s strategy during the over-a-month-long budget session of the Bihar assembly that begins on March 11.
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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