VIJAYAWADA : The IPL betting is continued unabated in the city. However, the Vijayawada police are catching only small players involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket betting in the city. The reason: The cricket betting organisers and bookies have been practising novel ideas in the 10th edition of the IPL, expecting police raids.
The IPL fever was started on April 5 and will continue till May 21 and a large number of cricket crazy people in Vijayawada are engaged in betting.
According to information from various locations, the bets range from `500 to `25,000 in single stake and in multiple stakes, the bets are crossing `1 lakh.
How the betting organised?
In Vijayawada city, the organisers are conducting online betting and spot betting during the matches. The organisers are offering interesting bets to the punters including Will Kohli hit a 50, Will AB De Villiers core 50 and Will Warner make a century?
The bookies are offering 1:10 bets at about 10 am. In some cases, the punters are using new sim cards for each game for placing bets.
The big players are using only e-mails instead of mobile phones. And the punters have ‘recruited’ some IT professionals for swift transactions.
Interestingly, some of the MLAs are also participating in the IPL betting. The punters are placing their bets from their homes using their laptops. All the special offers will be closed when the players came on the ground.
Shift from hotels to houses and hospitals
Earlier, the organisers were conducted the bettings at hotels, guest houses, bars and restaurants. However, with the police raids, the bookies have started a new trend. Now, there is no groups and gatherings for betting. The punters can place their bets sitting at their homes by by watching the match on TV.
Though the police have some leads on some suspected locations, they are not ready for a blind raid. Meanwhile, there are allegations that the police are turning a blind eye to some IPL bettings in which posh people are participating due to pressure from politically influential persons.
Interestingly, the organisers this time selected medial shops, diagnostic centres and hospitals for running cricket bettings.
On Wednesday, when the rural police arrested an online betting organiser, Akkireddy Madhu, he informed the police that the main bookies are in Vijayawada city.
“Yes, this time no big player was nabbed in connection with IPL betting. It may be true that the organisers and bookies have changed their regular practices and are conducting bettings at some other strategic locations. Even professionals like doctors are participating in the bettings. The police department do not have such powerful IT strength to nab the organisers,” one of the Circle Inspectors in the city said.