How to fix fixing

I watched sadly and helplessly, like millions around the globe, yet another cricket corruption scandal brining the game to shame. Nobody seemed too surprised that Pakistani cricketers were involved in this - Sunil Gavaskar even indirectly hinting that one's upbringing plays a major role in their honest commitment to the game. This is not the first time that Pakistan players have been caught on the wrong foot and one indeed wonders if they are more corrupt or just more stupid than others who might be doing it, or just unlucky for being born in an unfortunate and failing country which naturally makes them more gullible to bookies who provide easy quick money.

Money, insecurity and instability are at least partly to blame - the rest being immoral greed. Otherwise i find it hard to believe that an 18-year old bowler would want to risk his career for a sum that is way less than what he would earn in match fees assuming he has at least 5 years of international career. As fans, we get frustrated that players succumb to betting temptations, but i don't think many fans bother to look at it from a player's viewpoint, especially if the player is from a poor country like Pak or Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.

Everyone talks about legalizing betting. ICC might do it this time, it will only add to one more revenue stream for them. But this will not end corruption until players are also included as stakeholders in the betting system. Governments/ICC/BCCI must remember that legalization of betting is not only for revenue and tax generation but it is for making the game more honest. ICC should get it right right from start if they want to legalize it, and insulating players from bets is utmost essential if betting and honest game are to co-exist.

How to insulate a player from a bet? How to make sure that a gambler does not bribe a player? Just because betting is legalized, private approaches to a player and private dealings will not cease - players will keep taking the risk of being caught red-handed for making a quick buck. But what if ICC's betting system gives a cut to players for bets being placed upon them? perhaps if players get 'betting fee' irrespective of their game, they will not feel the need to risk an illegal way to make money.

To elaborate - say X is ICC's betting agency, and gamblers want to place a bet on player P scoring a century. They pay their bid to X making up a betted sum of M rupees. X keeps 10% of M as admin fee for betting - P gets 40% of M as betting fee because he is popular enough to gamble on and also earns ICC an admin fee - rest 50% of M goes to winners of the bet.

There can be many variations of this and i don't even know half of nitty gritty involved in doing this all properly legally without tax evasion etc. But i am pretty convinced that any betting scheme should provide players a fee to stay neutral and play their natural game. I guess in the past stock markets and brokers must have been similar to what cricket and bookies are today. Systems and regulations would have had to be introduced in early days of stock trading to remove any wrongdoings by influential brokers or insider trading etc, similar measures have to be introduced in cricket.

There is no point in empty moralizing, we just need to accept the frailty of human nature and accept players as normal humans susceptible to all-too-human temptations. We have to incentivise the players if they are to play a fair game in spite of betting.