Sleuths of Crime Branch and Mangaluru North police Bust Illegal Cricket Betting Racket in City-11 Arrested, Rs 15,000 Cash and Cell Phones Seized at a house near Mahamaya Temple on Car Street, Mangaluru
Mangaluru : IPL (Indian Premier League) is one of the most famous Indian events and one of the biggest revenue earning platforms for the BCCI. Due to Covid-19, this year the IPL is held in the Gulf. It is a well-established fact by now that Indian Premier League (IPL) and illegal betting rackets have gone hand-in-hand. The degree of epidemic plaguing cricket’s marquee event can be deduced by the spot-fixing scandals and relegation of major teams from the league. Cricket is a very famous and most loved game. It has become a passion for cricket game lovers and also a source of income for cricket bettors. Cricket betting has been a multibillion dollar industry since recent times and this betting is performed both legally and illegally.
Every season of IPL, Kudla Police manages to expose betting rackets and make subsequent arrests. And this time, sleuths of the City crime branch and personnel of Mangaluru North police station in a joint operation busted a cricket betting racket at a house near Mahamaya Temple on Car Street in Mangaluru. Police have arrested eleven persons, all locals and recovered Rs 15000 in cash and seized cell phones from the accused. As per the police the accused were placing bets using ‘Star Exchange’, a betting website. Based on a tip off, police had raided the house. A case has been registered under KP Act in Mangaluru North Police Station. Speaking to the media, “This is the first major crackdown on cricket betting in the city since the IPL season got underway, and city police will adopt zero tolerance to illegal betting” said Mangaluru Police Commissioner Vikash Kumar.
It should be noted that as per the Public Gambling Act , 1867, betting and gambling is illegal in India, but there is no specific law that makes online betting an illegal activity in India- and therefore we are seeing such illegal online betting. Many betting companies are using the loophole to lure people into betting, and the police are keeping an eye on such activities. Online betting is a booming business with transactional values of thousands of crores. Some websites claim taht they don’t take bets but help get in touch with international bookmakers/bookies. It is established and bookies here are illegal but still there is no law which specifies that placing a bet online using a bookie from outside India is illegal. It is difficult to catch gambling offenders here if the servers of the websites are located offshore where online betting/gambling is a legal activity.
Note : Pictures for illustration Only