Meghalaya Turns to Facebook for Teer Gambling Comeback

The state of Meghalaya has announced the comeback of its popular archery-based betting game, Teer, with the action set to be streamed live on Facebook.

The Indian government last week allowed non-contact sporting activity to resume as it slowly begins rolling back measures introduced to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

In response, the Teer authorities have turned to Facebook Live to resume the games without spectators to help ensure physical distancing is maintained. Before the lockdown, crowds of up to 300 would regularly descend on arenas to watch the archers and place bets.

The number of archers permitted in the shooting arena will be reduced from 50 to 30 with a strict distance of five feet between them to be enforced.

Philip Gean Khonsingi, president of the Hills Archery Sports Institute, said: "We have decided to live stream the shooting. Five bookies will be allowed in the arena to ensure there is no manipulation."

He added: "There are around 5,000 people who are directly employed through Teer. More than a lakh are indirectly employed."

There was no mention of how betting would work without a crowd, though.

Teer is a traditional archery competition where the audience place bets on how many of the archer's arrows will hit the target. Many bettors reportedly place their bets, not on evidence of the archer's ability, but rather their dreams on what will happen.

Meghalaya has around 5,000 Teer counters across its 11 districts, and betting stakes usually vary from Re 1 to Rs 100. However, some high-rollers are known to bet thousands of rupees on each bet.

The pastime was legalised in the early 1980s and is governed by the Meghalaya Amusement and Betting Tax Act.

Teer is not the only betting vertical trying new things to support its existence at a challenging time. Horse racing clubs have recently proposed an integrated betting app to help sustain the sport.