MULTAN, March 11: Cashing in on the uncertainty hanging over PPP’s final choice of a candidate for the prime minister’s slot, the local bookmakers are doing a roaring business.

Despite his going under a cloud recently, Makhdoom Amin Fahim was still going favourite for the slot, but the gamblers were also betting on Yousaf Raza Gillani, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said Muhammad Asif, a gambler.

He said despite having a desire to see one of the two candidates from Multan as coming prime minister, the local gamblers were keenly watching the political situation and betting heavily on Mr Fahim.

Abid Husain, another gambler, expressed his liking for Yousaf Raza Gillani, saying if the prime minister should ever be from Punjab he (Gillani) was the most suitable candidate. However, Shah Mehmood Qureshi was also a good choice, he hastened to add.

He said the local ‘bookmakers’ keep changing the bet rates on a daily basis according to the changing political situation, always keeping the gamblers on tenterhooks.

He said though Aftab Shaban Mirrani and Fehmida Mirza had also recently joined the race for the top slot, but few gamblers were betting on them.

After some latest changes to the political scenario, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari could also attract gamblers, he added.

Talking about rules of the game and those who control it, one Afzal Rana, also a gambler, said the more chances a candidate had for the slot the lesser rate he or she would get. Explaining, he said the `bookie’ would pay from Rs30,000 to Rs35,000 to a person betting on Mr Fahim if he won the candidature, and if not the gambler would be paying the bookmaker Rs100,000.

Similarly, he said, those betting on Ahmed Mukhtar would earn Rs65,000 to Rs75,000 against Rs100,000, for Yousaf Raza Gillani it was Rs90,000 against the same amount.

He said the bookmakers had no legal status. They apparently do some other business and under the garb of it they run betting dens, he added.

From international sports to foreign lotteries, a bookmaker would arrange bets on anything to earn his commission, he said.

For them this was the `season of politics’, and now they were arranging bets on the candidates for the premier’s slot.

A bookmaker, requesting anonymity, said since the political scene was changing fast and becoming more and more complex, we stopped taking fresh bets. We would now be waiting for the final announcement, and do ‘business’ according to old rates, he added.