With the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) nearing its end with the finals scheduled for 27th May 2018, the betting business which runs in Guwahati and is connected to other states and countries is under the scanner of the security agencies.
A highly placed source in the criminal investigation department (CID) said, “We can’t reveal everything but they (the nexuses) are under scanner.”
He said it is very difficult to get all the evidences against the betters and hence it requires time to take action. If all the evidences are not collected before the operation there are possibilities that the accused might get away very easily.
Though the betting phenomenon is not new, security agencies have observed that the bookies have used social media networking sites and WhatsApp this year. Sources said that over 15 apps can be used to place bets. Most of these are easily available as betting is legal in several countries. But it becomes difficult to prove the crime if the evidences are not collected carefully.
In August 2017, the CID had arrested four persons from a hotel in Guwahati. Various items including mobile phones and computers had also been seized. The items were sent for forensic tests but the case is still pending. Sources in the investigating agency said that it is tough to prove such cases as the modus operandi is a carefully guarded secret and the gangs work in such a way that if a bookie is arrested, the person above him will remain difficult to trace.
Betting market works in a chain
The entire betting racket works in a chain and people from the grassroots level to the kingpin sitting and operating from a different country are connected.
A person who used to bet earlier talked to G Plus under condition of anonymity and he revealed that the main betting market works in a chain.
He said, “When a school kid places a bet, he places it to a small time bookie. This small timer further places the same bet with a bookie that is in better touch with another bookie based outside the state.”
Similarly, a chain of bookies are tied from Guwahati to Dubai, who together runs the business. The bookies are never in touch with their bosses.
Now the process is simple as people just have to call the bookies or even place their bets over the internet as there are some websites too where betting happens.
The flow of the money happens between the punter (the person who places the bet with the bookie) and his immediate bookie. The bookie further does the transaction with the bookie based in a different state through hawala.
Hawala, also known as hundi, is an informal value transfer system. Hawala is the main form of money laundering – a business running across the country and also outside.
A huge amount of black money gets transferred through hawala from small towns to big cities and then outside the country.
So, the betting business runs entirely on hawala.
The business is entirely illegal and the money earned by the punters or the bookies are totally in black, and gets transferred to different countries.
The black money is used for various activities including funding terrorism.
Bets are mostly placed in evens or odds
There are different ways of placing bets for different events and mostly it is in the form of evens or odds.
A person who used to bet earlier talked to G Plus under condition of anonymity and said, “There are some bets which are considered as even when the returns are assured for the amount of money invested.”
He said that if someone bets Rs 100 on a team and this team wins, then the punter (the person who places the bet) will get double the amount invested, i.e. Rs 200. So, the money received is always even.
There is also another way of betting and this process is known as “odds.” The risk of losing money is more in this form as, till the end of the game or the event, the team the punter bets on have a big chance of losing.
The returns are huge in the “odds” betting. If someone is investing Rs 100, he/she has the chance of winning Rs 1000 or even more. The rates are fixed by the bookies and the odd betting rates are fixed outside the country, usually in Dubai or Malaysia.
According to betting industry sources, the Indian betting market is mostly dominated by people from south India and Gujarat.
According to sources, there are shops where hawala happens in every small town in the entire northeast region and all the towns are linked to Guwahati. The city is now the hub for the north-eastern betting racket. Guwahati is further linked with other states in the country.
