Connect with us

Sports

Why is sports betting so big in India? Vasudha Dewan, Chief Editor of My Betting Sites India, weighs in

Published

on

It is no secret that India has been dominated by its love for sports for quite a few decades. And at the top of that food chain comes cricket. While watching live cricket matches has obviously been a craze for quite some time, betting or wagering on them has only just become an activity that Indians love in the last couple of years.

With the rise of fantasy sports brands, real money gaming apps, and online sports betting platforms, people are becoming more and more interested in taking their love for cricket to the next level and betting on the outcome of their favorite matches.

We got the opportunity to interview Vasudha Dewan, the Chief Editor of My Betting Sites India, which is a website dedicated to helping Indian players find the best sports betting sites in the country. My Betting Sites India is also a detailed guide to betting online for anyone interested in the activity but not sure about how they can get started.

Here are some excerpts from the interview.

Why do you think sports betting has blown up in India in the past few years?

Vasudha Dewan: I think sports betting has always existed in the country?, in one form or another. But it really picked up in the last half a decade, with brands like Dream11 or A23 becoming household names now. This boom in the industry can be attributed to a couple of reasons.

The first one is simply the popularity of cricket, and more importantly, the IPL in India. The IPL is the biggest event in the country, one which engages the majority of the people. So naturally, betting on the IPL becoming a trend means that betting, in general, becomes a trend.

Another reason is the development and success of digital payments. Online gaming would be entirely impossible in a cash-based economy. And due to the introduction and rising popularity of digital payment systems like UPI or other e-wallets, people are now easily making online transactions, which enables them to play with real money online.

How easy do you think is it for beginners to start betting online?

Vasudha Dewan: It’s not really a complicated activity, but if you’re new to betting, you could feel overwhelmed with some technical terms like odds, cashouts, or bet slips. This is why we have made our website, which is not only helpful for experienced players that want to find the best betting sites online but also for beginners who want to learn more about how to bet.

We have created a few very specific guides on the website, ranging from how to deposit using UPI or Google Pay or even how to bet on the IPL or the Pro Kabaddi League. These guides aim at not only informing beginners on how to get started but to essentially turn them into experienced players that can start relying on their own knowledge in the future.

Do you think that the sports betting industry will ever be regulated in India?

Vasudha Dewan: The fantasy gaming and sports betting industry is rapidly growing. So regulation cannot be far behind. Especially because regulation at a national level ensures that the users have their interests protected by the government, and betting companies have to adhere to a set of uniform rules when they operate in India.

This also obviously means that the government can stand to make a lot of revenue by taxing the various betting brands that have come up already and will come up in the future. Many countries have recently regulated the gambling industry, with USA and Canada being a couple of them, and India will surely come to the same realization that regulation is going to be the long-term answer to curbing illegal gambling rings and unsafe online practices that have given this otherwise entertaining industry a bad reputation.

We're leading interview-based website for Indian and international personalities in various fields, including showbiz, business, lifestyle and technology.