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IPL betting dossier with Oneindia: Bookies put in Rs 7,000 crore last year

By Vicky

Betting will remain as long as cricket exists. The stakes that the bookies controlled by the underworld had in IPL 7 was estimated at around Rs 7,000 crore and the stakes in IPL 8 could easily touch up Rs 12,000 crore, an officer with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Intelligence Bureau informed.

It would be interesting to examine this dossier exclusively with Oneindia even as Lalit Modi made a statement claiming that the underworld was directly involved in cricket.

ipl


This statement has surely come too late in the day and it is no secret that the underworld has been involved in the game since a very long time.

The money at stake:

The IPL's first season saw an investment of Rs 3,000 crore being made by the underworld controlled bookies. However when they managed to draw out a profit of Rs 6,000 crore, they decided to continue increasing the stake.

The second edition of the IPL saw the stake sky rocket to Rs 6,000 crore and the profit that was earned by the bookies was almost double. By the time the 7th edition of the IPL was played, the stake had risen to Rs 7,000 crore.

Despite all the guidelines and mechanisms that have been put in place to curb betting and spot fixing in the IPL, the menace still continues and with each passing year the modus operandi tends to change. While in some editions they targeted players directly, in other editions they went through their agents.

Shorter version preferred:

Investigations have shown that of all the money that is thrown into the betting ring, the D-Company operating out of Dubai provides 40 per cent of it. The rest are put in by individual bookies and other betting syndicates that are associated indirectly with the underworld.

Bookies bet on every game in the IPL and as the tournament progresses, the stakes also increase. However these days there is a clamour for the shorter version of the game and investigations have shown that betting has taken place in the Bangladesh cricket league too.

How does the money reach?

The pumping in of the money is a year long activity. The money is pumped into the country in several installments. The two major hubs which have received the most amount of money for IPL betting have been Delhi and Hyderabad.

All the transactions are through a hawala channel. The hawala boss or the hawaladhar is based in Delhi and Hyderabad. These persons are given zones to which they have to send in the money.

Each bookie is given his share of money and as and when the need arises, he withdraws it from the hawala boss.

Throw in as much as possible:

The conversations that have been recorded by the police officials between the underworld and the bookies indicates that the money to be spent needs to be done liberally. Do not bargain or try being miserly. Pump in as much as possible is what the instruction is.

The bookies through their agents first look for a vulnerable link. The most vulnerable of all the links till date has been the honey traps and several players have succumbed to this. Most of the deals are brokered by the agents. The bookie comes into play directly only when the stakes are very high.

The Bollywood connection:

Some players have been over awed by Bollywood starlets. Bookies stay in regular touch with smaller actors who manage to strike the deal with the players. They are the ones who are setting the honey traps most of the time, the report suggests.

Once the player makes a commitment, he is never allowed to back out of it. If they feel that a player is not agreeable then bookies resort to blackmail and even threaten them. However bookies are also careful not to pick and chose any player.

They scrutinise the player, analyse his lifestyle and then approach him. Some players have had a lure for more money and these are the ones who more or less fall trap.

Story first published: Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 11:42 [IST]
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