The shrouded world of betting

MUMBAI, APRIL 14. The proverbial dice cast by the Mahabharata heroes that cost them the kingdom has its rumbling echoes today as the country's most popular sport, cricket, finds itself embroiled in one of the most murky controversies surrounding the sport, once called the `Gentlemen's Game'.

Mumbai, which stood a mute witness to the great variations of this sport passionately played in narrow mud- covered alleys of slums or in the bylanes of middle-class localities and local parks, has, however, been a hot spot for cricket betting also, according to police sources.

Cricket betting is one of the most popular form of gambling in Mumbai, second next to `Matka'. The game has always drawn huge hoards of gamblers thanks to its popularity and the involvement of big money. This form of betting witnessed a huge rise due to the dwindling profits arising from `Matka', explains a bookie.

Cricket betting has assumed myriad forms where bets are placed on the number of wins scored by a team, on the number of wickets claimed, on the `Best batsman', `Best bowler', `Man of the match' award and even as trivial as the colours on the cricketers' gloves and his attire, according to Mr. Shirish Inamdar, DCP, Social Service Branch.

According to a person, who regularly bets, the toss is the vital factor while betting. If the pitch is good then betting is high on batting while if it is a muddy pitch bets are in favour of the bowlers of the day. Bets are often placed on a century scored or half a century scored. Bets are also placed on wickets taken.

``The stakes went very high last year when India's leg-spinner Anil Kumble took 10 wickets in a single match, a rare phenomenon by most cricketing standards'', says a regular.

The Indian team's position also is a vital factor while deciding bets to be placed. If chances of India losing were high, the stakes were higher while the reverse occurs when India is on the verge of victory, according to bookie sources.

The bets involved anything from Rs. 50 to over a crore. For the hard-core gambler, the stakes rise high according to the class of cricket being played and the kind of tournament. ``It can either be a `Peti' (Rs. one lakh) to `Khoka' (one crore)'' depending on the match being played, the sources said.

During `big operations', bookies were willing to place bets without receiving any immediate payment while in case of smaller bookies, the gains are immediately distributed, the sources said.

According to Mr. Inamdar, there were no documentation or reports on the exact amount of money involved in the cricket betting scene. It could be a multi-crore business but there was no direct evidence of such transactions. Detection of such betting is full of hurdles as bookies often operate from flats with just telephones and other gadgets. ``Tracing them down becomes difficult unless people tip us about the same'', he adds.

Last year, the department arrested 21 bookies from various houses and seized several incriminating documents and other communications systems from them. ``However, all their registers are full of code words, which are difficult to decipher, making the task an awesome one''.

Bookies often operate from houses and social clubs. A large number of them regularly meet at the race course and near the stock exchange when the betting scene is very hot.

Mr. Inamdar holds the immense popularity of the game and the glorification of the cricket fraternity as one of the major factors responsible for cricket betting in the city. ``However, match-fixing and betting were two different ball games all together. As far as match fixing was concerned, transactions of crore of rupees was involved and there was little chance the money percolated down the line'', he said. ``Cricket is one game that everybody in the country claims to have authoritative right to comment about''. added Mr. Inamdar.

According to Mr. Inamdar, the real betting scene probably began with the advent of television on the Indian scene. With the game becoming a visual sport, the chances of betting rose unlike in the radio era when the whole source of information was the running commentary.

However, most of those who were nabbed by police, were often either released on bail or sentenced to minor imprisonment ranging from few months to two years. Since gambling, which is considered to be a minor offence by the Indian legal system, the offenders often reverted to the gambling process, notwithstanding the punishment.

As a regular puts it, ``gambling is a serious form of speculation and one who is into it will only find ways and means to place bets, it could either be cricket or even the last digits of a taxi. Betting will continue whether sacked South African skipper Hansie Cronje decides to make a clean breast of it or not''.

- PTI

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