Mumbai, May 27 : With Chennai Super Kings emerging as favourites for the IPL trophy, cricket bookies have piled up bets to the tune of a roughly estimated Rs 1,000 crore for today's pulsating final.
Bets for Kolkata Knight Riders are being taken at Rs 1.22, and 83 paise for Chennai Super Kings. Means, if a person bets a rupee on CSK, he or she will get 83 paise, reports Delhi tabloid Mail Today.
With police in different states sniffing around for underworld betting sydicates planning to rake in a staggering Rs 1,000 crore from the final match, the odds appear to be stacked against KKR.
“ The odds are stacked against KKR because even though they have performed well in the league stages, the fact is that they are against CSK who have won the title twice ( 2010 and 2011).
"The players of CSK are in good form and have comfortably beaten strong teams like Mumbai Indians and Delhi Dare Devils.
"While KKR have played well they have relied heavily on Gautam Gambhir's batting and bowler Sunil Narine,” a bookie said in Mumbai.
The betting starts from the toss itself and goes on to typical cricketing nuances such as probable team score, the number of runs that a team might score within a stipulated set of overs, the overall outcome of the game, and so on a so forth.
The betting is based on ‘ lines' set by the bigger syndicates and then ‘ hired' by each bookie.
One major Delhi- based line had 80/ 85, meaning a bet of Rs 100 on CSK will fetch a mere Rs` 80, whereas a bet of Rs 85 on KKR would bring a windfall of Rs 100.
A Delhi- based bookie said the lowest individual returns are expected from Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir, both of whom are expected to be fairly successful in the final.
In contrast, bets on KKR bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji would attract huge returns, with the odds set at 1: 200, meaning a Re 1 bet on him being Man of the Match would bring Rs 200 if correctly wagered.
The Mail Today report says, it is spot fixing get brings in the moolah.
“ The people just keep playing. They go right through, they play on every ball, and you will hear numbers like lakhs and crore,” a gambler, who refused to give his name, said.
Sources in Gujarat's satta market echoed a similar line.
“ The rates will be declared only after the toss. But people are more likely to place their money on CSK. The situation might change as the match progresses,” a source said.In addition to the large- scale betting ring, every neighbourhood has a local bookie for smaller customers or amateur gamblers.
“ There's very little in terms of proper organisation, but you'll find one person like me in every street, every alley of Delhi,” a part- time bookie said.
“ The bets can be small, and we only take a few, around 50, but a minimum transaction of ` 10,000 is assured during normal matches. The final will be much more than that,” he added.
UK- based websites that promote online betting — a hugely popular avenue that many south Asiabased gamblers use — have odds that are similarly slanted towards Chennai.
At www. iplbet.com , a bet on CSK would fetch a Rs 1.72 payout as compared to Rs 2.20 for any wagers expecting Kolkata to win.
‘ Bet365' puts the odds at 8/ 11 for Chennai and 11/ 10 for Kolkata.The police have reason to believe that the rates were likely to closely follow the odds set by the big websites.
The Delhi Police on May 25 busted two major betting syndicates, including one that used a fullfledged telephone exchange in a soundproof room.
They found up to 113 phones getting calls from Singapore, the UAE and across India with bets placed on every ball being bowled in the Chennai- Mumbai playoff game.
Because of the ad- hoc nature of such arrangements that can be put together in a day the police have to rely heavily on local information to bust such rackets.
“ We are ready and we will act as soon as we have information.But we have to get the intelligence first,” ACP ( crime) Ashok Chand said.
This comes at a time when IPL is going through a rough patch and attracting negative publicity vis- à- vis from mostly its players — be it spot- fixing caught in the famous India TV sting, cricketers found in a busted Mumbai rave party, a molestation charge and assault, or Shah Rukh's abusive behaviour at Wankhede in Mumbai.
These incidents pale into insignificance when compared with what's in store on Sunday. For the grand finale, the police suspect that high rollers in Pakistan and Dubai could pitch in, says the Mail Today report.
