II. BETTING SYNDICATES IN INDIA:

(a) THE HISTORY -

Although betting on cricket matches was taking place on a one- to-one basis on a small scale prior to 1983, betting through syndicates, ironically, started on a major scale only after India's triumph in the 1983 World Cup. This was the period when live telecast of matches featuring India, both at home and abroad, started on a regular basis. Initially, betting was restricted to a group of friends, but by the late 1980s, it had become more organised, and a number of bookies spawned in major metropolitan cities. An interesting feature of this racket was the fact that this was set in motion mainly by bookies who were involved in betting at horse racing.

By early 1990s, betting on cricket had spread across India and had attained a measure of sophistication. Typically, all that a bookie needed to start his profession was a telephone connection, a television set, a note book and a clientele who were basically known to the bookie through various contacts.

As at the race course, in cricket also, a person who places bets with a bookie is called a punter. Any cricket match which is shown live on television, whether an international, domestic, veteran or festival match, activates the betting syndicate. All transactions in this trade are carried on by word of mouth. For example, if a punter wants to place his bets in a particular match, all that he does is call up his bookie over telephone, find out the 'odds' and place his bets for a particular amount. No money changes hand at this point of time and the punter's bet is duly entered by the bookie in his note book. After the conclusion of the match, exchange of money takes place and the note book is destroyed. In the early years, betting was mainly confined to the final outcome of a match, but, over a period of time, betting on other aspects like the toss, individual scores, team scores, etc. generally termed "spread betting", also started.

By the middle of 1990s, with a surfeit of one-day matches being shown live on television and also the onset of cable revolution in which international matches featuring countries other than India also began to be telecast live, betting had taken the shape of a massive organised racket. The introduction of mobile phone in the mid '90s also gave a major fillip to this racket, since bookies and punters were no longer solely dependent on P&T lines for communication and could also be more mobile. Bombay emerged as the major center for betting, followed by Delhi and other metropolitan cities such as Calcutta, Chennai, Ahmedabad and even smaller district towns. Bombay took the lead in this racket since the 'odds' on which bets were placed in any match throughout India was determined by the bookies based in Bombay. Currently also Bombay remains the base around which all betting operations in India revolve.

(b) BETTING PROCEDURE :

The 'odds' for a particular match are decided among bookies based on certain accepted criteria such as the relative strength of the two opposing teams, previous record, pitch and weather conditions, team composition, etc. For example, if two teams, 'A' and 'B', are scheduled to play, and where 'A' is perceived to be relatively weaker than 'B', then the odds may be 60 paise on 'B' and 150 paise on 'A'. After these 'odds' have been decided upon, primarily by bookies based in Mumbai, they are transmitted telephonically to bookies in different parts of India and betting starts.

Punters place bets with concerned bookies over telephone. For example, if a punter places a bet of Rs.1 lakh on team 'B' winning the match, he will get Rs.60,000/-, if team 'B' actually wins. On the other hand, if he places a bet on 'A' winning the match and if team 'A' actually wins the match, he will get a sum of Rs.1,50,000/-. However, in case he loses his bet in either instance, then he pays a sum of one lakh which he placed as a bet, to the concerned Bookie. The whole betting procedure is a very flexible system in which 'odds' keep changing during the course of the match depending on how the match is progressing and the punter can conclude and place fresh bets according to his judgement.

Without going into the intricacies of changing 'odds' during the course of a match, it is emphasised that bookies generally manipulate the 'odds' in such a manner that they seldom incur huge losses. It is generally the punter who risks losing his money. The 'odds', which keep fluctuating as the match progresses, are transmitted to the bookies throughout India by mobile phone, pager or through the 'Dibba' system.

The 'Dibba' has a phone with speaker facility. The person operating the 'Dibba' will normally have a Mini Exchange in which there are 10 to 12 incoming and around 100 outgoing lines. An operator will constantly receive the prevailing 'odds' in the incoming lines from the big bookies. These 'odds' are in turn constantly passed on to the other bookies/punters through the outgoing lines from the phone with speaker facility. The outgoing lines are also used by bookies/punters throughout India for the latest information about prevailing 'odds' at Mumbai. The outgoing lines are kept energised throughout the match. Our enquiry has disclosed that primarily the owners of STD booths act as conduits in this sort of a communication network.

The operations of betting syndicate in India are in the nature of a cartel. This primarily means that there are no two groups of bookies who fix 'odds' at widely differing rates. This, to a degree, ensures that there is no cut-throat competition which harms the interest of bookies. In spite of this, if there are any differences regarding any particular match, these are sorted out mutually among themselves.

(c) MAJOR BOOKIES AND PUNTERS :

Some of the important bookies and punters who have emerged as key figures in the enquiry due to their connections with the cricketers in one way or the other are:

Bookies

1] Mukesh Kumar Gupta, @ M.K. @ John, C-538, Defence Colony, Delhi

2] Anil Steel, r/o 312, Luxmichand House, 1st Floor, Telung Road, Matunga, Bombay.

3] Anand Saxena, 3562, Gali Than Singh, Sita Ram Bazar, Delhi and D-84, Defence Colony, New Delhi.

4] Shobhan Mehta, 1503 & 1504, Deepak Jyoti Building, Kala Choki, Mumbai-33.

5] Uttam Chand, 145, North Usman Road, First Floor, T. Nagar, Chennai.

6] Naveen Sachdeva, @ Tinkoo 41/7, 2nd Floor, Punjabi Bagh (East), Delhi.

7] Deepak Rajouri, A-120, Vishal Enclave, Delhi-27.

8] Sanjeev Sacher @ Babloo, 18/18-A, Moti Nagar, New Delhi.

Punters

1] Ajay Gupta, 41, Rajpur Road, Civil Lines, Delhi.

2] Ameesh Gupta, 34/1, East Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi.

3] Gyan Gupta, 34/1, East Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi.

4] Nishit Goyal, 8/3, Ram Kishore Road, Civil Lines, Delhi-54.

5] Sanjeev Kohli @ Tipu Kohli, D-14, South Extension, Part-II, New Delhi.

6] Rattan Mehta, W-38, Panchsheel Enclave, 2nd Floor, New Delhi and A-13/8, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi.

7] Pawan Puri, Puri Farm House, Mehrauli, Gurgaon Road, New Delhi.

8] Sanjay Anand, I-33, Kirti Nagar, New Delhi - 15.

9] Rajesh Kalra, S-252, Ist Floor, Greater Kailash, Part-II, New Delhi.

(d) DIMENSIONS OF BETTING:

Betting on cricket is today, in terms of monetary turn-over and volume of transactions, perhaps the biggest organised racket in the country. According to rough estimates, the turn-over for a one-day match in any part of the world which is being telecast live in India is to the tune of hundreds of crores. A primary reason for the growth of this racket is the relatively liberal provisions of the Public Gambling Act . The ingredients and punishments under this Act differ from State to State. Even as it is debatable whether betting on cricket attracts provisions of this Act, since cricket theoretically is a game of skill, the maximum punishment under this Act, for example in Delhi, for a first offence is imprisonment for 6 months and a fine of Rs.1000/- and for subsequent offences, a maximum punishment of imprisonment for 1 year and a fine of Rs.2000/-. Hence, for a bookie or a punter dealing in crores of rupees, the provisions of this Act are no major cause for worry.

During the enquiry, it was also learnt that the lure of easy money has gradually attracted the underworld into this racket. It seems that it is only a matter of time before major organised gangs take direct control of this racket, a phenomenon that would have implications not only for cricket but for national security as a whole.

(e) MANIPULATIONS :

Betting on cricket, having emerged as a major organised racket, it makes sound common sense for both bookies and punters to manipulate results according to their financial interests. For example, if a bookie wants to 'fix' a favourite team to lose, he would naturally rake in a huge amount of money at the cost of punters who generally place bets on the favourite team. A punter can also 'fix' a team according to his financial interests and place heavy bets with a number of bookies which would result in major gains for him. Our enquiry has disclosed that results of cricket matches are manipulated or attempted to be manipulated by both the bookies as well as punters. Apart from 'fixing' matches, 'performance fixing' of individual players can also help the betting syndicate in 'spread betting'. Specific details of this aspect will be discussed later.

© CBI