CHENNAI: Royal Challengers Bangalore are rocketing along at more than 10 runs per over. Kedar Jadhav and Travis Head have built a handy partnership, with the former threatening to take the game away.
That catches the eye of a few casual punters. They log on to bet365 and place a stake of Rs 10 against Jadhav’s name to be the highest scorer in the match. A few minutes later, they have a change of mind and cash out (an option where in you can settle your bet without waiting to see whether your stake comes through. Bookmakers usually propose to give a smaller sum than the original profit, especially if it looks like your bet is about to win).
The odds of Jadhav top scoring is 15/1 at this point (a Rs 10 bet can earn Rs 140 plus the invested amount). People who have cashed out get Rs 45. Few balls later, Jadhav is out for 30. All that is fine but with a difference. The ones who did bet were Indian citizens living in India. In fact, some of them have been using bet365 to bet on every market from ‘Donald Trump to become the next president of the USA’ to what will happen in Friday’s IPL match between Gujarat Lions and Kolkata Knight Riders.
How do they do it? “It’s simple,” a person in the know says. “After opening an account with bet365, just select Neteller (an e-wallet) at the time of payment. Minimum amount to open an account is Rs 1000 and they charge a 1.9% processing fee. While quite a few betting companies accept payments from Indians living in India in spite of the grey area, there is an obvious advantage with bet365 — betting with INR.”
Indians living in India who have been doing this do it on the presumption that there is a legal vacuum with respect to online betting on betting websites who are established in countries where online betting is legal.
A bettor’s dream
Download an app called ‘Live Line’. The scores are real time and not the ‘live’ you see on television, which is about a ball late. This means the bettor can make a profit.
FEMA violation
The accepted wisdom is that there is some sort of ambiguity surrounding the law. However, prominent lawyer Vidushpat Singhania batted away that suggestion. “If they do it through services like Neteller, then it could tantamount to violation of Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act laws,” he told Express.
swaroop@newindianexpress.com