Tuesday 12 May 2009

Indian Government Swears Off SMS

Betting and gambling are already illegal, why not SMS games? I've never seen a government which fits the definition of 'prude' better than these fellows do, barring a few extreme exceptions.

India's Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill is a far cry from our own. Kate Ellis bets all over the place, including making bets with the Brits involving one in which she said she'd wear their team colours and cheer their team on if Australia lost to Great Britain on the Olympics medal tally. Bitch. We lost that one, but at least we're not claiming New Zealand as a part of our country when we feel like it and then cracking jokes about them the next. The whole notion of "Great Britain" in the Olympics is laughable.

Oh, what was I saying? Gambling and betting.

“I am concerned about the latest venture of encouraging viewers to make ball-by-ball predictions of runs scored for economic gain in the shape of cash prizes.

“This is viewed as encouraging gambling and betting, to which official bodies do not resort, even in countries where betting is legal — all this to make money and enlarge the TV viewership base.”
Yeah, I laughed. But what is perhaps better is that at the launch of the SMS contest, the texting god Shane Warne himself spoke on how great this new game was. If I were him, I'd be constantly suspicious that these people were just shitting me. Everyone time anyone mentioned texting, I'd glare at them suspiciously to see if they were cracking a joke about me.

But not Warnie. He's as tough as nails. You'd have to be if you were to fuck it up with your wife a second time by accidently sending her a text meant for someone else. It's almost too good to be true.

If you're interested, Lalit Modi had the best possible Lalitastic response to the complaints made by the Sports Minister:

“It’s a valid point. But the margin of something like that [a correct prediction] happening is one in a million."

Basically "guys, nobody's going to win anyway, this is just me fucking with their money. HAHAHAHA."

10 comments:

Amy said...

What article is this?

Q said...

But its true what Modi said.. how can someone predict what exactly will happen on each delivery of an over and then actually get 4 of those right to be eligible to win something? what are the chances? moreover, wat r the chances that the person doing the predicting will have access to the bowler bowling that over so that he can try and fix what happens on those deliveries?

I mean they gotta get serious and worry about bigger issues, such as, how to stage the IPL in India for example.

Anonymous said...

I hope he mentioned this, Amy.

Anonymous said...

Q, looks like the last paragraph is like the dig I took at Pakistan cricket about the chucking controversy. There won't be an election next year. So hopefully* the IPL will take place in India without a problem.

*-Unless any party withdraws support and we have a re-election.

Q said...

12th Man: I swear its not a dig :-).. it was just a point to show that the Govt. cant be serious abt the betting and match fixing threat abt an sms contest.

Rayden said...

Mr. Gill has done absolutely nothing for Indian sports and now he wakes up from his sleep because of an sms game. My advise to Mr. Gill - forget what IPL is doing and please concentrate on the commonwealth games to be held in Delhi next year. Already most Indians know that it is going to be a huge disaster and its mismanagement will haunt us for decades. I wouldnt mind if they hand over the commonwealth games to Lalit Modi as atleast he would do a good job organizing it.

Amy said...

You're all wrong. The minister is clearly correct. Just look at the highly likely possibility that you could fix the outcome of an over between two teams and even pay them all off, with the eventual rewards you receive from 6UP not even covering the cost of your bribes. Ingenious, really.

Rayden, yes how are those Games coming along then? All the facilities built and ready? If they do end up having problems with it, how exactly do they plan on justifying this to the rest of the world? Interesting stuff there. I think Melbourne is preparing itself for the possibility it might host the games again, but then again that could just be bullshit spun by journalists desperate for Australia to gain worldwide recognition.

Mahek said...

From what I've heard the authorities aren't doing shit. They're doing their recruiting through an HR firm my friend works in and she tells me they postpone interviews because someone on their committee has better things to do.

Rayden said...

Amy - the commonwealth games is being organized by the INDIAN GOVERNMENT - Not an Indian Private Organization. Melbourne seriously needs to start preparing as there is no chance in hell the Indian Government is good enough to pull off something like the commonwealth games. Its just another huge embarrasment for Indians like me.

As for justifying to the rest of the world, well I am not too worried about that. Making excuses is the one thing anyone associated with the government is actually good at.

Amy said...

Mahek, best story ever.

Rayden, I don't want it to go to Melbourne, really. There's something called Sydney/Melbourne rivalry and it's incredibly strong. We got the Olympics, they got the Commonwealth games. We never fail to rub it in their artsy little faces.