A new age problem that has seeped quietly in Kashmir homes and affected families at large is online betting and gambling.
Looked on as harmless fun and a way to earn a quick buck this trend is more dangerous than it appears.
What is perhaps even more worrying is the normalizing and even celebrating of this vile practice across the valley.
The gambling addiction is particularly high during cricket series, tournaments or franchise cricket involving the cash-rich IPL.
| Install Our App | DOWNLOAD |
| Join Telegram Channel | JOIN NOW |
| Join Facebook Group | JOIN NOW |
| Subscribe YouTube Channel | SUBSCRIBE |
| Follow On Twitter | FOLLOW |
| Follow On Instagram | FOLLOW |
Today, in Kashmir you will find individuals doing permutations and fixated on their phones creating fantasy cricket teams on various platforms.
Not only youngsters but even middle aged men are seen browsing across online betting apps investing their money in hope of big returns.
While creating and playing fantasy sports isn’t bad in itself, it is the lure of easy money and its addiction that can plague your financial future.
Addiction to win easy money is how betting apps and platforms lure you in. Many apps offer a ‘free first game’ which means you essentially play without investing and most of the time end up high on the table.
A few free games later you are now addicted to the thought of earning money through this. Many people who consider themselves as expert of cricket decide to take the plunge after a few successful free try outs.
Soon they find themselves invested- mentally as well as financially in this vicious cycle. Success is hard to come by in this genre with crores of players from India participating.
As such failure is common and drives the person to invest more of his time and money to make up for the incurred losses which results in anger, frustration and affects mental health.
Wasim Kakroo, a Srinagar-based clinical psychologist, opines that online gambling becomes an obsessional process and one has difficulty in handling emotions related to the act.
“There’s a proper diagnosis of the problem and it’s called pathological gambling,” Kakroo says. “It’s a compulsive act.”
The mental health expert further elaborates that under the whim of one’s emotions, one keeps on searching for short term gains at the loss of money, respect and even relationships.
People across the valley are now seriously embroiled in this racket with some individuals running into deep financial troubles due to online gambling.
Some people start with using small amounts of money, winning and losing thus balancing it out.
But even that can lead to pro longed addiction such is the mechanism of the online betting.
It is designed to reel you in make you feel in control and then throw you in the ocean of players trapped in the same addiction.
Even if someone starts off by just indulging in fantasy sports for the sake of it, the money factor eventually creeps in and you find yourself spending away hours and with it your money.
There have been incidents of people borrowing money to invest in online gambling. It begins with 25-30 rupees in fantasy cricket, then soon snowballs into thousands.
Eventually when one finds themselves out of money to invest or lenders, they can resort to stealing it just so that they can fulfil their fruitless dream.
The fantasy aspect of sports is lost and it has become straight on gambling with an element of sports involved.
For a society like ours that remained outspoken on issues of morality this has become a a bigger issue to tackle.
While we are vociferous on issues like acid attacks, domestic violence, gender discrimination, we are largely silent on this serious matter, with only murmurs of discontent on social media and our drawing rooms.
In fact instead of openly condemning online betting and gambling we celebrate it. A few lucky ones who managed to win big in online gambling are often congratulated, heralded and given an ovation for their ‘achievement’.
Parents are happy that their child is in the comfort of his room and not venturing outside while he’s engaged in a habit that could ruin their family.
There have been many cases of gambling addiction ruining families and relations as evidenced in an article by Kashmir Observer.
This is a matter of grave concern about which there has been little uproar, not helped by the fact that many even go far as to justify the online betting in some way.
For a region where unemployment rates are on the rise and where almost 22% population have never attended school according to NHFS, this issue needs to be dealt with.
Although there are stringent laws in place against ‘real life’ gambling there is apparently nothing to be afraid of when you are sitting in your home and using your phone to indulge in gambling.
According to Public Gambling Act (1867),all kinds of gambling in India are illegal. But unlike in the US where there is the American Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, no specific law exist in the Indian system that prohibit online gambling.
Betting companies are apparently using this loophole to lure you to bet on everything.
Whatever the case more needs to be done to minimize affects of online gambling before it takes over our future. People in position of influence need to speak out against it more often as this is first our moral obligation and latter a matter of law.
We need to react before it is too late, this vicious cycle needs to end as it is not a Dream but a nightmare.