The legal nitty-gritty apart, if you are inclined to think that risking money to make money, presumably more of it, is gambling, plain and simple, you are in agreement with those who believe that gaming is precisely that.

Its online platforms have spurted in India recently, with sanitised descriptions of the way they go about their business given the sort of spin that stresses a participant’s cricketing insight and the faculty of imagination for his, or her, hopes to be fulfilled. So far so bad.

But the Internet also records variously observant references to the association of three of India’s iconic presences ~ Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli ~ with as many commercial entities specialising in what is being subliminally projected as a recreational pursuit, akin to watching films or listening to movies or gardening.

A few journalistic offerings reflect a certain disappointment that the chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, one of the world’s finest-ever batsmen often compared with Don Bradman and the captain of the senior national team have decided that it is worth their while to be in this, with the concomitant, if unstated, suggestion that the liaison is actually worth a great deal more.

While it may be a matter of personal choice to have a pop at gaming where it is permitted, seemingly much in the same way as, perhaps, what shoes you go out in, the fact that there is money to be aimed at in gaming probably widens its scope significantly. And when such stalwarts as the triad already referred to in essence advocate it, with a dash of glamour, a very special variety of unease is quite likely to result, given that the market of sport is mostly peopled by youngsters in their salad days who are, therefore, green in judgment.

Also to be reckoned with, along with this, is the rapid expansion achieved by the entreprenurial acumen of the captains of the gaming industry, with the Eden Gardens currently hosting a Twenty20 tournament in league with a gaming venture.

Cricket Association of Bengal-insiders, of course, do not mind telling people their side of the story: that, for obvious, Covid-19-related reasons, a lot of the money that the Indian Premier League yields has eluded them in this catastrophic year. Apparently, funds from the cricket board are late in coming. But not everyone can be expected to agree with the fundamental proposition ~ as sport now appears to think ~ that being choosy when it comes to a source of money will not do in these extraordinary times.

Gambling outfits’ bounty is an unresolved question in many countries, but India preferring to stay, euphemistically speaking, in the nebulous zone where things may not quite be all right will surely revive a lot of uncomfortable questions that we thought we had buried.