April 28, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 21, 1429

MUMBAI, April 27: The lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) is only into its second week but has already become a big hit with gamblers, leaving betting on other major events far behind.

Police here estimated amount changing hands in first week at a whopping Rs2 trillion. A police official said this is at least 20 times higher than betting money in last cricket World Cup in the West Indies.

The reasons attributed to this quicker turnover for punters are the glamour involved, big money at stake, and shorter match durations producing faster results.

Added to it is tremendous public response to IPL matches around the country. At some of stadiums, corporate boxes have been sold out and in some places like Mumbai, general tickets were sold in black.

“There is a strong hype surrounding IPL, summer vacations are on and matches are being marketed well in all cities,” said a Mumbai bookie, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In order to ward off police and private security agencies deployed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), bookies are operating with extreme caution.

The underworld is reported to be active in gambling operations in a big way.

“We accept bets only online, through certain websites. Punters are provided with passwords which are kept confidential and we keep changing them for every match,” bookie said.

The current hot favourites are Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai — in that order. While Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders commands price of Rs4.50, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi teams follow close second with Rs5.00. The next on list are Hyderabad at Rs6.00 and Mohali at Rs7.00.

It means for every Rs1.00 that is bet on any particular team, punter would get current rate being quoted for that team. So, if Kolkata wins match, punter would make Rs4.50 on his bet of Rs1.00.

Bookie said when several international players from Australia, West Indies and New Zealand leave IPL to fulfil commitments at home next month, betting trends might undergo a major change after assessing teams’ strengths afresh.

So far, average per match betting is in the region of Rs50-100 billion, depending on team and its players. Money collection and disbursal is done through unorganised couriers and by money laundering racket.—Agencies