Police have been cracking down heavily on Indian bookmakers throughout India. The Indian Premier League is a month into the season and as happens every year, the tournament attracts punters from all over the world to get involved in the action. Those betting on the tournament have a whole host of things they can bet on from who will win the toss to which side will score the most sixes, let alone betting on who will actually win the game.
So whilst the temptation is there for the average punter to have a flutter on the occasional cricket match, for the bookies themselves this is their favourite time of year and they will go to every length necessary to lay bets to those who ant them.
The nemesis of the bookie is also out and about at this time of year and comes in the form of the Indian police force. The police know that betting will be at it's very peak of activity during the months of April and May and therefore prepare well in advance the techniques they are going to use to cut down on the betting that occurs in India.
This season we have already seen well over 50 people arrested for gambling and countless mobile phones, televisions, lakhs and laptops have been confiscated as evidence. Police have developed techniques where they can track the density of phone calls. So if a bookie is located in a rented flat or hotel room then the police can work out where they are operating from by tracking the density of calls coming from that position.
The bookmakers have tried a number of things to avoid this, including specialised Goonga SIM cards and an increasing reliance on internet transactions and communications. However, their latest innovation appears to be far simpler than all of these technical steps forward. Indian bookies have resorted to just permanently driving around.
The bookmakers in India are taking to the highways as they attempt to avoid police. As they are moving whilst communicating with their punters then it is far more difficult for the police to track them. Bookies drive around in chauffeur driven, state of the art, air conditioned cars and will bring their most valued customers with them so that they can bet live, without a seconds delay.
I'm sure that the police will soon work out how to prevent these enterprising bookmakers. However, for the time being the bookies of India have one up on the police as they cruise around cities like Mumbai and Delhi in the backs of Mercedes and BMWs all bought with the lucrative profits made from betting on the IPL.
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