What are the odds? Underground betting on the rise as IPL fever heats up

Typically, the gambler — who could be anyone from a grocery shop owner, to an accountant or even a big businessman — raises a ‘shout’ (bet) to a ‘bookie’ (agent) for a certain amount of money. The amount depends not on the funds they possess, but on the loss they can bear. If the gambler makes money, it’s called a ‘plus’ and if they lose money, it’s called a ‘minus’.

Muthu (name changed), a bookie with a wide base of clientele in Nungambakkam, said, “There are easily at least a 1,000 and more bookies in Chennai itself. Betting on the IPL is not limited to the city, state, national level — the network of bookies stretches across continents. We bookies report to another bigger-scale bookie, so everyone is connected to someone dealing with a greater number of shouts.”

Akash (name changed) (31), in finance, said, “I have been betting on IPL matches for four years now. I made a plus of Rs 4.5 lakh in the first season. The next seasons, I made only Rs 2,000 or 3,000 — barely negligible amounts for the time invested. This year, I’m at a plus of Rs 70,000 right now.”

The minimum shouts — starting from Rs 1,000 to 1 lakh — are based on the number of shouts a bookie is able to get. A bigger bookie would add the shouts of a smaller bookie to his total numbers, said Muthu. On winning the bet, money is sent to the gambler within a week. On losing it, the gambler must transfer the amount within 24 hours to continue the rapport with the bookie.

“I take small amounts of bets like Rs 10,000-15,000 during the beginning of the series, and as my rapport with the gambler builds, I accept bigger amounts like Rs 50,000 - Rs 2 lakh closer to the final. The only problem we face is some influential people refuse to pay after losing money and back out, leaving us hanging,” explained Muthu. People in their forties or fifties, and even late thirties, were the bigger clients and youngsters in their mid-to early thirties were the smaller ones, he revealed.

“Some gamblers are impulsive, some are instinctive, and some have a planned strategy for betting,” said Akash.

Mohan (name changed) (34), sales head of an app-based service in Chennai, said, “I wanted to try betting for fun. I would bet through a bookie from Mumbai back in 2015 or 16 but when I realised people were seriously doing it full-time basis, I backed out.”

A new trend is betting meet-ups where groups of people connect at bars in Nungambakkam, Alwarpet and gamble on small amounts. Ram (name changed), owner of a sheesha (hookah) joint in the city, said, “Just go to any cafe serving sheesha during a match and you can witness betting live.”

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Chennai city police, while claiming that they have not received any complaint regarding IPL betting, said in the event of such complaints, people are liable to be booked in a variety of sections depending upon the enormity of the offence. “Usually gambling cases are either booked under Section 42 of City Police (CP) Act or Section 12 of TN Gaming Act. But if the offence is found to be of serious nature, the suspects will even be booked under Section 420 of the IPC. While those booked under CP Act could be released on station bail, other sections are non-bailable and will be remanded,” said a police officer.

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The website, designed for online gaming enthusiasts, is being used by IPL followers, of late. When a live match is on, a Dream 11 user can create his own team by selecting 11 players from the 22 players in both the teams. When the match concludes, the runs scored by the players elected by the user will determine the amount of money he or she wins. “Friends of mine place bets of Rs 30 and make up to Rs 60 to 300 every day,” claimed Sunil.