Lok Sabha elections witness estimated betting of Rs 6 lakh crores

Mumbai: There may be many debates on the condition of the Indian economy. However, if one is told that the betting on the just concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections was equal to the GDP of the Central American country Panama, it would send everyone into a frenzy.

According to sources in the betting circles, the amount of bets placed on the elections is estimated to be between Rs 6 lakh crores and Rs 7 lakh crores! This is way more than the estimated amount of Rs 2.5 lakh crores calculated two months before the elections began.

Sources said that the betting stopped after the elections concluded and as the telecast of exit polls began.

All bets on NDA’s third term

Like all the exit polls, the bookies predict people’s mandate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for a third consecutive term. BJP, as per the last prevailing rates, is expected to get 304 to 308 seats.

The NDA overall is expected to get anywhere around 350 seats. On the other hand, the bookies expect Congress to win 60 to 62 seats. The bookies have not predicted the total number of seats for the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.

“The results are more likely to reflect the 2019 figures for the NDA,” said a source affiliated with the betting industry.

Betting is done using websites cloned from legal sites

Sources said that the entire betting process was conducted online this time with bookies cloning websites that operate abroad legally. In India, betting is illegal except on horse racing. Most websites abroad do not accept bets if placed using India-based servers.

According to sources, among bookies, there are around 300 cloned websites where bets were accepted. These are websites owned by big bookies in the country who give their further control to smaller ones.

“It works through a franchise model and every cloned website follows the same rate,” a bookie said requesting anonymity.

How are bets placed?

The entire clandestine online business works systematically.

The bookies give ‘buttons’ to the punters who want to place bets. The button is the link to access the website. Further, the bookies give login and password to their respective punters to allow them to place bets.

While no deposits were taken from the existing customers, bookies ensured that the new punters made advance deposits equivalent to the amount they wanted to place on bets. “Once a deposit got exhausted, the new punter was required to make further deposits to continue betting,” the bookie said. All deposits were placed online, and made on sites on which the punters placed bets. The deposits, sources said, ranged from Rs 500 to Rs 100 crores for new punters.

Punters include people close to politics

Sources added that bets were placed not only by common folk but by many in active politics or associated with parties or politicians by investing huge amounts in the predictions. The fate of the punters would be decided once the results are declared.

Bookies said that the settlement – a term for the exchange of money – would be done after the Election Commission of India (ECI) officially declared the result.

Minor also have access to betting

What is most disturbing in the entire illegal business is that minors too manage to get buttons and place bets on the election result predictions. “It is not difficult for the youth to get access to these websites and place bets because they were already addicted to the prevalent online gaming and sports apps that allow monetary transactions,” a bookie said.

While some of these gaming apps operate legally in the country, the addiction has pushed the youth to stake money in illegal online betting zones.