Former Indian Premier League (IPL) boss Lalit Modi has once again questioned the entry of private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in the cash-rich T20 tournament due to its investments in companies linked to betting activities. (More Cricket News)
In a strongly-worded tweet, Modi slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for "reducing the game to big joke".
"This #bcci sure are taking there time in deciding on a betting company buying a @iplt20 team. I guess greed is over taken any thing rational. This is just reducing the game to big joke. #clowns. I made it. They destroy it. #jokers," he wrote in a post shared on Wednesday.
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CVC, which calls itself a ‘world leader in private equity and credit with USD 125 billion of assets under management’, shelled out INR 5625 crore to buy soon to be constituted Ahmedabad-based franchise in the world’s biggest T20 league.
As per the company’s website, it has investments in companies like Tipico and Sisal, which are involved in sports betting. Betting is not legal in India. CVC also invested in Formula 1 in the past and now has stakes in Premiership Rugby.
In a previous tweet, Modi had questioned the BCCI's move, saying "a disaster is waiting to happen".
Before that, he had told the Indian cricket board to "do their homework".
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“I guess betting companies can buy a @ipl team. must be a new rule. apparently one qualified bidder also owns a big betting company. what next? does @BCCI not do their homework. what can Anti corruption do in such a case?” Modi tweeted.
But as reported earlier, the BCCI doesn't see any problem in CVC Capital winning a bid.
A senior official had told Outlook: "CVC Capital is a big private equity company and they are free to pick up stakes in a betting company because betting is legal abroad. Irelia Company Pte Ltd (through which CVC Capital bid) could be managing many funds but as long as they don't have any managerial role or control, how does it matter? Betting is a matter of perception. It should not be confused with match-fixing."
RPSG Group won the bid for the Lucknow-based franchise by paying a whopping INR 7,090 crore. From the 2022 season, IPL will have 10 teams.
