Moving away from metros, it is petty vendors, hotel workers and private employees in small towns who are getting sucked into the murky world of cricket betting. Lured by the prospects of earning easy money, these men put their hard-earned money on fancy bets but end up in penury, and in some cases are forced to sell their properties to pay dues.
With the police tightening noose around punters, smaller towns have become safe havens for cricket betting. The IPL season is one season where crores of rupees are traded in cricket matches.
Guntur Rural Police have busted two cricket betting rackets in Sattenapalli and Chilakaluripet on Thursday. In Sattenapalli, an organized cricket betting racket has been headed by the directors of Dolphin Restaurant Kondeti Sivaji and Avuladoddi Gangadhara Rao. Among those who have been nabbed are a gold ornaments maker, a daily worker and a field officer at a fertilizer company. The group usually sits at the hotel after work and engages in betting. The police have seized a communicator box, an LED TV and ₹95,560.
“We are looking for a key bookie who is based in Bengaluru and hope to get to the roots of betting. Many innocent people are falling prey to the fancy betting,” said SP, Guntur Rural, Ch.Venkat Appalanaidu.
Second case
In the second case, the police arrested Tanneru Venkateswarlu, K. Sadasiva Rao, K. Pradeep Kumar and eight others who have been indulging in cricket betting at a house in Chilakaluripet. The police are looking for Koppuravari Ramakrishna (RK) and Inaganti Siva Rao who are the main bookies. All the accused are either doing small businesses or working in hotels and offices to make their living. The police have seized ₹67,700, a laptop, 11 mobile phones, 500 grams of Ganja and a TV.
The police have booked cases under sections 420, 506, 120 (b), and section 3 and 4 of AP Gaming Act 1964.
