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President’s At Home: Sun greets special guest Hollande

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greetNew Delhi:A warm sunny afternoon provided the perfect backdrop for the customary At Home hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the evening of Republic Day on Tuesday.

French President Francois Hollande, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union ministers and other dignitaries like former prime minister Manmohan Singh, veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were also present on the occasion.

Union ministers like Rajnath Singh (home), Arun Jaitley (finance), Nirmala Sitharaman (commerce), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Communication and IT), Harsh Vardhan (Science and Technology), Dharmendra Pradhan (Petroleum), Jayant Sinha (MoS Finance), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (MoS skill development), and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (MoS Information & Broadcasting) were also in attendance.

The capitalÂ’s powers that be, along with foreign dignitaries and a number of diplomats from various embassies, mingled among themselves at the Mughal Gardens as they waited for the president to arrive.

Mukherjee, dressed in a black bandhgala, was escorted to the dais by his aides. He later moved to a canopy in the centre of the lawns in an area marked for VIPs and introduced the union ministers and his staff to the French president.

Modi also mingled with the invitees. And, like Mukherjee, took a walk around the venue, greeting the invitees with a namaste, handshake or a wave. Modi wore a cream waistcoat on the occasion.

Keeping reports of a terror threat during the French presidentÂ’s visit, the invitees were expected to stay within enclosures that were demarcated to prevent any mobbing of the Mukherjee or Modi, who walked along the designated path with their security keeping a close watch.

The presidentÂ’s daughter, Sharmistha Mukherjee, who is also a local Congress politician, stood nearby engrossed in a conversation with Advani, who was earlier seated close to the president next to Manmohan Singh. The former prime minister walked up to the 96-year-old Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, who was seated in the VIP enclosure and greeted him.

The top brass of the armed forces glistered in their ceremonial regalia.

The reception ended with the playing of the national anthem, after which the president departed from the venue.

Entertainment

Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists

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PureWin Online Betting

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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