India, Sept. 12 -- The RWITC (Royal Western India Turf Club) AGM next week, which has had a history of stormy elections to its committee, was expected to be tame, with "no election" for the third year in a row. It is probably unprecedented not only at this club, but at any premier sporting institution in our city. Some fire has breathed virtually at the winning post into its small voting electorate of just 1,693 on date out of a total membership of circa 10,000. The main issue that seems to have raised a mini uprising is the proposal of the committee to raise the fee for children of members by five times. But more that the email communication to members of the stoppage of membership in late 2024, failed to reach a huge number by the service provider chosen by the club. It is a moot point whether it gets the 75 per cent vote to pass it into law. Of more importance are certain regulatory decisions that can impact the sport. The recent ban of online gaming will dent the club's income from online betting, estimated at less than Rs.1 crore currently and hence not significant. Attending a media event with the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India last week when queried on this ban, he was categorical that the government was fully behind the ban irrespective of the thousands of crores of loss in revenue to "protect and safeguard the mental health of the young." Speaking to Harsh Jain, founder of Dream11 whose fantasy app was mainly on cricket and was a money spinner especially during IPL, has taken the ban in his stride. He confirmed that the "business model of Dream11 is shut" but hopes to "rebuild the vision that can still propel it to be the greatest sports company." "The recent GST Council decision to move all racing services from the 28 per cent slab to the new 40 per cent "sin" tax, while continuing to apply tax on the full value of bets threatens to push the legal ecosystem of horse racing into collapse," said Rahul Renavikar, a GST expert. The rationale of applying the tax on gross gaming revenue, a no brainer, instead of the full value of the bet, has not found favour. Ever since I met the former Finance Minister, the late Arun Jaitley in 2016 even before its introduction pleading the case for the industry and despite several opinions from tax luminaries, there is not even a whimper of acceptance. The interest and attendance at race courses, as of course the legal betting, continues to nosedive in an endless abyss....