So Mr D and I have been talking about cricket. And also playing some. With plastic bat and plastic ball. On the terrace. In the living room (at our own peril, since we are always likely to whack someone watching TV, or knock a favourite vase over).

Mr D has chosen cricket as his sport. Which means he is going to talk cricket. Which means he’s going to talk about Kohli. Now Virat Kohli is big in our house. The younger kids don’t look up to any sports celebrities, but they know Virat Kohli and are willing to fight anyone who says anything critical about him. I don’t know why they took to him, but they just love his personality, style and we-are-the best attitude.

During the third test with England, I managed to get some TV time in the evenings and caught a few overs as and when I could. Mr D would walk in and out of the living room and chit chat about who’s batting… that’s a great shot… and then, during an ad break, he suddenly stood still and watched because Kohli was in the ad… and he soon got mad.

“Why is he dancing like that ?”

“Do you like the ad?”

“No! That is Virat Kohli, India’s cricket captain! How can that company make him dance like that?”

A bulk of commercials nowadays are made for younger audiences irrespective of product targeting, which is why we see a lot of different kinds of music and attention grabbing tactics. What companies and ad agencies don’t realise is that you may catch the younger generations’ attention and then lose them as influencers or potential customers forever by misreading their values.

But that’s their problem.

What could quickly become my problem is also related to TV commercials, sporting commercials to be precise, but not about sports. These are the ads for online betting and gambling platforms. So if you have been watching the Test matches you would have noticed ads from several such betting/gaming platforms. Most of these are based outside India, though they are actively wooing and pitching Indian viewers as “responsible gaming” platforms. Here’s how it could be a problem.

Gambling (online or otherwise) and specially sports betting is illegal in most states of India, definitely in Maharashtra. Most states have some rudimentary regulation or law governing what is legal gambling and what’s not. Responsible Gaming is a clever invention on the part of the industry (already a multi-billion dollar industry in India).

I like the government’s approach of self-regulation in industries. But like with all things, there are some exceptions where one ought not to leave it to the better judgment of those making money – better judgment in those cases are always detrimental to broader society.

At its best, self-regulation is a bit of a non-starter, especially for industries that are on “dubious grounds” to begin with. Gambling I understand, and most would because by its name you realise it carries great risk. Words like morality, ethics and the law are all quickly part of the debate depending on where you are… thus, if you still go gamble, one can’t really turn around and claim ignorance, or cry foul.

Responsible Gaming is different. It is like renaming smoking as “conscientious inhalation of nicotine-supplemented air”. By introducing the term “responsible”, one clubs together the “dubious” with legitimate sporting activities, with the aim of providing legitimacy, or credibility, to the endeavour.

There are serious issues at several levels: Governance, Taxation, Industry and Social at the very least.

From where I sit, sportspeople train and play and get paid. People watching sportspeople play and predicting an outcome and making or losing money is gambling – irrespective of whether there is analysis or thinking involved or not.

If you want to legalise gambling, please do, but please don’t do it with an elaborate legal, judicial and professional charade of what’s good for society and how to protect society from the possible fallouts. One should not take a vice, let it loose in society, then regulate it to organise the aftermath of foreseeable problems, and then manage the social devastation.

Arguments aside, there is a very real problem with blurring the line between vice and entertainment, between sport and chance, and between ethical uses of skill and non-ethical uses thereof. What’s sad in all this is that there is a genuine gaming industry that’s has emerged and it’s likely to be clubbed together with “responsible gaming”.

What concerns me are the commercials. Should we stop children from watching sports now? Because if something is illegal in a state should that be advertised? Gambling is right up there with smoking and alcohol consumption in terms of health risk.

If you read through the reams of language that passes off as self-regulation or guidelines of advertising, most of it is aimed at how to circumvent genuine issues, not at being responsible by saying “no” to advertisements that could harm children.

Does the flash of 18+ seriously address the real danger of youngsters and children accessing gambling or “responsible gaming” from a prime time ad on a sports channel? Shouldn’t there be a credible decision-making deterrent so that sports channels understand that they could be held accountable (not just responsible) for bringing gambling to the immediate attention of a minor?

All this is being debated and government and judiciary and industry will decide what’s good for us. Meanwhile, I may just have to stop watching sports and read event reports instead.