A 20-year-old under-graduate student committing suicide after losing huge amount of money after indulging in IPL betting in Chitoor, brings to the fore a couple important factors.
One is the ugly face of betting, it is no longer limited to the elite, but has spread across all sections of society. Also, it has become rampant both in big cities such as Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada and smaller ones such as Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram and Guntur and Chittoor. It has a well-oiled machinery controlled by big time bookies who are safely perched in metro cities.
Betting in cricket is not a new thing and it was prevalent in cities such as Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Hyderabad during early 2000, when the State was undivided, and the IPL or T20 format was yet to make a mark.
It was then restricted to a few who placed the bets manually to bookies in cities such as Bangalore or Mumbai and the betting was limited to test matches and one-day internationals.
But it took a new dimension with the advent of IPL and today there are UK and USA based mobile Apps such as Bet Fire and Bet Cricket and the bookies are present almost everywhere, said ACP of CTF – Visakhapatnam (City Task Force) I. Chittibabu.
Technology
The first IPL betting gang was busted in Visakhapatnam in 2014 and the CTF arrested three persons and seized ₹9,300 in cash. Since then the CTF cracked about 10 cases and arrested 32 bookies and confiscated cash to the tune of about ₹21 lakh.
But over the years, the bookies have technologically advanced. Today, the bookies are trained and they use multi-level mobile connectors and follow the age-old mafia system of ‘need to know’ basis.
Each multi-level connector has about 30 to 40 cell phones connections and they can reach 30 to 40 punters simultaneously. And once the connector is switched off, the data cannot be retrieved, said ACP I. Chittibabu.
The 30 or 40 punters who are tried and trusted ones of the bookies are given authority to connect to another 10 or 15 and that is how the network spreads like multi-level chain marketing. The bookies use the latest Apps to analyse the game and place the bets and they are armed with laptops.
The basic modus operandi is to hire a flat in a posh area and move in as software engineers. Now the trend is to pose as software engineers who are assigned projects under the ‘Work from home’ system.
About four to five trusted and trained persons assist the main bookie who is connected to other bookies in the State and in other cities.
Feeling the heat, the bookies at some places have shifted to farm houses and in some cases they are mobile and operate from high-end SUVs.
All that is needed is internet connection and mobile tower connectivity and to avoid detection they move from one place to another. “It is very difficult to arrest mobile bookies as by the time we detect the cell tower location they move to another location,” said DCP (Law and Order) K. Fakkeerappa.
According to Mr. Chittibabu, IPL betting is the easiest way of making cash or even lose cash. The bets are placed on winning or losing team in various ratios such as 1:2 or 1:4 and on ball-to-ball boundaries, last over sixes and catches.
In this IPL it is raining cash for the punters and the bookies are at loss. Most of the games played so far have been last ball or last over finish, and in many cases it is seen that the losing side have won in the last over or last ball or the favourites losing out in the last over.
This trend has enticed even the common man to pitch in, said the ACP.
Difficult job
The only way the police can crack the betting racket is by tracking the cell tower location or information.
The tracking technology does not pinpoint location and it gives only latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates. “In one given location, there may be 40 apartments with at least 20 apartments in each. It is difficult to locate the particular one unless we have some supporting information like vehicle registration number of the bookie,” said Mr. Satish, Sub-Inspector of CTF.
Even after cracking one den, it is difficult to move further up, as they operate on ‘need to know’ basis and one level does not know the identity of the higher level and the movement the systems are switched off, the data cannot be retrieved.
The SIM cards that are operated are pre-paid cards purchased from vendors by giving false information. “Some of the vendors or salesmen of mobile operators also play the mischief by using details of genuine customers to fabricate applications for selling more cards, since each person can have nine cell phone connections,” said Joint CP Nagendra Kumar.
The moment one level is cracked, the other level switches off the system and everything goes blank, said Mr. Nagendra Kumar.
