For centuries Indian bookmakers have been innovating their betting products in an attempt to hide what they are doing from the police. All the while the police have been trying just as hard to figure out what the bookmakers are doing. The process seems to go in circles, with the bookies winning one month and the police catching up the next.
Recently however, the bookmakers have made a big step forward and seem to have outsmarted their counterparts at Police HQ with the introduction of the Goonga SIM Card. We all know bookmakers have been using telephones to settle bets for years but as mobile phones have reached such low prices the bookmakers have been given an extra advantage.
Well known for changing mobile phones every couple of weeks, bookmakers are often caught red handed with tens and sometimes hundreds of mobile phones when the police arrive. There are many levels of bookmaking, with the top bookmakers presiding over whole cities and sometimes even states catering for the highest of rollers, whilst smaller ones will preside over very small areas looking after the business brought in by small time punters.
The high level and low level bookmakers need to communicate. The system is largely based around trust and bookmakers will not agree to taking on new customers unless they know they are trustworthy and not an undercover policeman. Therefore mobile communication is of high importance as bets are communicated through mobile for around 95% of the bets taken in India.
The police try their hardest to break into these lines of communication and often catch bookmaking rings by listening in on these mobile conversations. Bookmakers have tried many tactics, such as using secret codes and regularly changing their mobile phones. Their most recent tactic though is the Goonga SIM card.
The Goonga SIM card is a high tech SIM card that has a high security status and is very difficult to listen in to. The SIM cards cannot be tracked or listened to but they have one downside, they can only work one way. The SIM card can be called but it can not make any calls itself. This is part of a high security measure imposed by bookmakers.
The cards do not come cheap and they can be bought for between 2500R and 5000R. The bookmakers holds full control of the Goonga SIM and if he becomes worried about how trustworthy one of his punters is then he can immediately block that SIM.
Trust is of high importance in the world of bookmaking, all bets are taken on credit and if a customer does not pay up the day after a the bet has been settled then they will be blacklisted. With Goonga SIM cards the bookmakers have more control over their customers and they are also harder for police to track.
The bookmakers of India seem to be winning this battle and with hundreds of crores being gambled every day on the IPL this is the perfect time to have released this innovation. No doubt the police will catch up with them but for the time being bookies from Mumbai to Delhi are all enjoying the fruits brought in by the Goonga SIM cards.
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