Neighbours did not have any clue although the racket was operating from a bungalow that is situated in a relatively crowded locality. In the last two years, many such rackets have been busted in the State by the police.
It is easy to control betting that is operated from one place, but recently such activities are also carried out from cars and boats. It is difficult for police to take action against such activities. Before opening a bet on a sports game or an incident, the bettor and their aides register with their nicknames. The registrations are done in a ledger, diary or a laptop by nicknames. Today, cellphones and web applications too are used for the same. Bettors and their aides are provided a login ID and a password as per their emails. Earlier, the win-loss record would be recorded in a small notebooks, which is now replaced by laptops. The money would then be exchanged by reference, which is replaced by online currency such as bitcoin. Advanced technology has made it possible to place bets from abroad, which has made it difficult to nab such bettors.
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Betting is not something that has started recently. Although it is taking root in Goa now, betting’s connection with Mumbai dates a long way back. In the 90s, betting was entirely on trust and fear, and cricket was the most popular sport to bet on. The bettor would place his bet over a telephone and it would be registered in a notebook. At the end of the match, the money would be taken from those who lost the bet and given to the winners. Goons would guarantee to recover the entire amount, as they would get their share of percentage as well. Keeping control over betting was a crucial factor in gang warfare in Mumbai.
Although commercial betting is a relatively new concept for the common man, it has been practiced playfully in real life often. If there is a match between two teams, then people place their bets on the team they think is going to win. If the team they betted on wins, then they are given an amount which was fixed before the match. Yes, it is indeed true that the matter is not as easy as it sounds anymore. There are now complaints of betting amongst common people. A while ago, the connections between players and the bettors were discussed heavily on social media, which brought everyone under the scanner.
Huge bets are placed on the outcome of matches and since the turnover runs into crores of rupees, the cases of match fixing started to rise. But for that, it required to include all the players, including the captain. The fancy bets also gave rise to spot-fixing. It became easier to place bets on specific aspects of the game such as the number of runs that would be scored in an over or after the toss of a coin whether the team would be batting or bowling. Although betting so far seems to be limited to cricket, the deep roots of the practice may have entered in other sports as well.
There are organised gangs involved in betting which is legal in many countries. Apart from betting, which is based on overall outcome of the match, fancy betting is also in trend where one can place a bet about the number of runs a player will score in one over, or how many total runs the batting team would score, or how many batsmen would be out, etc. Due to the advent of online methods it has become difficult for the protectors of the law to locate these criminals and by the time they track them, the match is probably over. This has made it clear that bettors opt for various advanced techniques to avoid being traced by the police. Mobile applications and bitcoin currency have opened many doors for the betting business to run smoothly. If one wants to avail membership of a bank or any organisation, a signature from the old member is required. Similarly, old aides are introduced to the bettors. This old aide works as a guarantor for the new ones. If the new aide fails to pay, then the amount is recovered from the old one. Interestingly, the trade of cash in this illegal business is carried out with honesty. That means, the guarantor has been replaced by an online recorder. Various new mobile applications, VoIP technology and similar systems are now used for betting. Despite the fact that sometimes it becomes very difficult to catch the accused since they are always on the move, the fact that the police have managed to arrest them is commendable.
However, the fact remains that despite police operations, these anti-social elements continue to operate from Goa, which is a matter of concern and the authorities must take stern action.
