<p>“I see the commercial use of cricket for business gains, that is going on. I am concerned, at knowledgeable comments, from serious followers of cricket 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,” Gill said.<br /><br />“This is viewed as ‘openly encouraging gambling and betting’, which official bodies do not resort to, even in countries where betting is legal; all this ‘to make money and enlarge their TV viewership base,’ ” he said.<br /><br />Gill said the BCCI should have thought of the damage done to the game by the 2000 match-fixing scandal before introducing such a game.<br /><br />“Cricket is part of the family of sports in our country. Its current riches, do not set it apart from other games. <br /><br />“The actions of the BCCI, are bound to impact the thinking in other sports, sometime or the other. We have already had, sometime back, a match-fixing scandal, in the game. It seems the ICC, had expressed concerns about such possibilities, in the IPL league.”</p>
<p>“I see the commercial use of cricket for business gains, that is going on. I am concerned, at knowledgeable comments, from serious followers of cricket 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,” Gill said.<br /><br />“This is viewed as ‘openly encouraging gambling and betting’, which official bodies do not resort to, even in countries where betting is legal; all this ‘to make money and enlarge their TV viewership base,’ ” he said.<br /><br />Gill said the BCCI should have thought of the damage done to the game by the 2000 match-fixing scandal before introducing such a game.<br /><br />“Cricket is part of the family of sports in our country. Its current riches, do not set it apart from other games. <br /><br />“The actions of the BCCI, are bound to impact the thinking in other sports, sometime or the other. We have already had, sometime back, a match-fixing scandal, in the game. It seems the ICC, had expressed concerns about such possibilities, in the IPL league.”</p>