Can you back online on Bangalore races?

By Sharan Kumar

Can you back online on Bangalore races? This is the question that is being posted by racegoers on our public form repeatedly. The government of Karnataka has not given permission for BTC to conduct online betting on its races. The turf club uses this as the reason for not letting other turf clubs in India conduct online betting on Bangalore races possibly as it does not want the other clubs to benefit. The club has not clarified that it is barred from letting others conduct online betting on its races.  

 

BTC perhaps is right in not allowing other clubs to conduct online betting whether the government has denied permission for the host club. But can the BTC clarify whether the government has given it permission to allow online betting by app-based websites stationed outside of India?

 

The turf club has sold signals to a foreign entity for a small sum after signing a long contract when it could have got many times the money that was agreed upon. The contract is binding till 2025 and due to short-sightedness and lack of vision, the club undersold its rights for a throwaway price. The tote betting on the clubs has crashed as its punters can back in rupees on these overseas apps without having to pay GST. Is BTC not shooting itself in its foot?

 

The alarming thing is that BTC generated money to run racing through the tote pools all these years. From a high of Rs 2000 crores, it is crashing every day. One is not sure if the club turnover would reach even Rs 300 crores this year. The collection on the tote on the Indian Turf Invitation Cup Day was about Rs 170 lakhs which is very poor. It is clear that BTC can only survive on the high entry money and the stall fees paid by the bookmakers. The club is at the mercy of the bookmakers whom they cannot accord to displease whatever their actions may be.

 

Be that as it may, has the Bangalore Turf Club informed the government of Karnataka that it has sold its signals to overseas operators? If there is betting on races held on Bangalore races, the government is entitled to get its share of GST especially when the overseas apps are taking money in rupees. Has the club taken government clearance in this regard? The club or the Principal Secretary to Finance I S N Prasad who is also the licensing authority should clarify.

 

Apart from causing a great deal of loss to itself and to the government, the club has had no qualms about taking sponsorship from overseas apps which conduct online betting on Bangalore races and provide advertisement space in its premises apart from beaming the same in the telecast of races. One is not sure whether these operators can legally take betting on Indian races. The apps welcome everyone to bet on races held all over the world including on Bangalore races. How is it that the BTC is allowing overseas operators to conduct online betting on Bangalore racing when it is not permitting the other turf clubs to conduct online betting? How does one explain the contradiction in the club’s stand?

 

In the meanwhile, the goof-ups in the tote system in Bangalore remained unresolved. The dividends on the last race of the day on Saturday when a rank outsider had won, resulted in excess of cash being left in the counters. One is not sure how the money was accounted for. The operators had to punch the tickets in order to get the dividend pay slip. Reportedly, the money from the pool got deducted twice when the payment was half. How was the money reconciled?

 

There seems to be a total collapse and no one on the committee seems to care. All that the committee members know is to please their electorate, fight among themselves to get more passes for big race days, be vindictive with those who don’t agree with their views and generally be more bothered about whom to give passes and whom to deny. That is the only privilege they seem to be exercising with some of them doing the job of ticket checkers!

 

Attendance at the club continues to be falling alarmingly. The number of racegoers present at the race course is decreasing by the day, with Saturday’s attendance pegged at around 4000 and that Sunday being 6000. Gone are the days when the minimum attendance was 8000 on normal days and about 14000 on Derbys and other special race days.  

 

Reportedly, the Turf Authorities of India were due to meet to discuss the proposal from Hong Kong, England and from North Alley about the National tote and extending the borders for its operations. The representatives from these organisations were in Bangalore. However, the Turf Authorities decided to defer the matter as the glitches in the system which has resulted in the clubs not getting proper outputs and also put some clubs in trouble with the Income Tax authorities.  

 

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