Crackdown on gaming sites fails to deter bookmakers from conducting their clandestine business online

Hyderabad: The gaming sites may have shut down online real money games following a ban by the government, but a monster that is forcing people into gambling and draining their money still manages to raise its head without fear.

The business of illegal online betting sites continues to thrive, with bookies and punters both getting easy access without any hindrance. There are thousands of such sites running illegally with their servers in Dubai, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to track them and take action.

The most recent example of this thriving business is betting on the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, for which bookies expect a turnover of around Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The elections will be held in two phases, on November 6 and 11, while the results will be declared on November 14.

The severe loss caused by these illegal sites is evident from the betting on the India-Australia semi-final match in the Women’s Cricket World Cup held on Thursday. A large number of punters had placed bets in favour of Australia, who had set a huge target of 339 runs for India. After India successfully chased this target, punters lost around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore, said a bookie requesting anonymity.

A bookie who himself accepts bets using 15 websites said many in his fraternity use multiple sites to conduct their business clandestinely. These websites are cloned and follow common rates. In sports, these websites follow the rates running on some official betting sites operating abroad legally.

‘Many of these cloned websites would look identical with the only difference in their names,’ the bookie said.

As for the monetary transactions, the bookie said that these websites have wallets where the punter has to deposit the amount he is willing to place on bets, in advance. The punter is not allowed to place bets beyond this amount till he adds money to the wallet.

‘If a punter wins, the website deducts two per cent from the profit and transfers the rest of the amount to the wallet in the form of credit,’ the bookie explained, adding that in case of a loss, the money placed on the bet is forfeited.

BIHAR ELECTION BETS

The bookies are predicting a government by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of which incumbent chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) (JDU) is the key member.

Of the total 243 seats, bookies have predicted 133 to 136 seats for NDA as against 96 to 99 for the Mahagathbandhan comprising Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and others.

In individual party capacity, bookies predict 65 to 67 seats for BJP, 51 to 53 seats for JDU, 69 to 71 for RJD and 15 to 18 for Congress.

Bookies also believe that Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party will not be able to make significant inroads in the state, though it will prove to be a vote-cutter for Congress and RJD.