With betting in IPL tournament estimated to be around Rs 66,000 crore business, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha today said there is no harm in legalising betting as there was no point in a ban which cannot be enforced.

When asked by senior editor Shekhar Gupta on his views about legalising betting, Sinha, who was on the panel of a session "Ethics and integrity in sports--need for a law and role of the CBI", said there was no harm in legalising betting in the country.

"If you cannot enforce the ban on betting, it is likes saying 'if you can't prevent rape, you enjoy it'", Sinha said.

"If we can have lottery in states, if we can have casinos at holiday resorts. If the government can declare schemes of voluntary disclosure for black money, so what's the harm in legalising betting? Besides you'll have enforcement agencies to look into it," he said, adding that its easy to call for ban than to enforce it.   

(Later, CBI spokesperson gave a clarification saying the context in which the statement was made by Sinha was an opinion on legalising betting.

"A voice vote was taken from R M Sawani and cricketer Rahul Dravid and the Director, CBI, made a point if a law cannot be enforced, that does not mean that law should not be there").