CHENNAI : When cricket matches are telecast live, the image on television appears a few seconds after the action has taken place. This is well known. What may not be known is a few persons have been arrested for placing bets on IPL matches sitting at the stadium, trying to take advantage of this time lag.
The latest such incident happened at Eden Gardens on April 19, when the Kolkata Police arrested seven persons from one particular block for placing bets on the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore and passing on the information as well.
From the stadium, they were relaying what was happening to bookies. With prior information of what had happened, the bookies could offer odds accordingly. “Those arrested were involved in betting. Police found betting apps on 14 mobile phones seized from them. They were using the telecast lag to their advantage,” said Ajit Singh, head of BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit.
Interestingly, this was not the first arrest of its kind. Police had arrested a few from Bengaluru in the past for same charges, Singh added.The delay in broadcast is a technical issue, which even the broadcasters can’t do anything about. In order to telecast any event live from the venue, signals have to be transmitted through several intermediate stages. Loosely put, this transmission via satellite and cable leads to the lag of a few seconds and can go up to one delivery on occasions.
Bookies can take advantage of this by having their men at the spot. Known as ‘pitchsiders’, they provide live commentary to the bookies from the stadium, helping them know in advance what is going on. The delay in broadcast, in turn, gives time to punters to place their bets accordingly and manipulate betting market.
“After seven persons from Eden Gardens, we nabbed seven more from various hotels and lodges in the city. These guys were passing on information to bookies,” said Praveen Tripathi, Joint Commissioner (Crime), Kolkata Police.