Betting and gambling in Cricket are illegal in the Indian subcontinent, but the betting circuit becomes active during cricket play and can go to any extent to make it tempting and profitable. The circuit is operated behind doors and one can never predict how these bookies reach the players and officials to fix the match.
Illegal Betting and Gambling in Cricket:- Cricket is a game of bat and ball but played with emotions in the entire subcontinent. When teams and players perform, love and affection are poured over them by the million fans. They could do nothing wrong, they enjoy the status of demi-Gods and Gods don’t lie, cheat with fans cum devotees emotions. Living to fans expectations is hard, but there are few who compromise with their integrity and loyalty in exchange for handsome money and assets.
If you are a cricket fan, it is important to know about the dynamics of betting and match-fixing in Cricket and the techniques behind them.
- The first point is that illegal betting circuit in the Indian subcontinent is operated on a money credit system. There is no actual paper currency involved.
- The online cricket betting provides various modes to bet during the cricket match, it includes team score, individual score, runs scored in a particular over, runs scored on the particular ball of the over, wickets between 15-20 overs, etc. The modes vary according to the situation of the match.
- The betters or gamblers usually target the captain, opening batsman, opening bowler, umpires and wicketkeeper in the match. The captain decides the bowler over, fielding positions and batting line up, the opening batsman gets the maximum opportunity to face the balls, therefore he has the maximum chance to score big, and umpires have the power to declare the batsman out.
Without these three, the Gambler cannot fix the Match.
- Sometimes you see any unorthodox fielding set to attack the batsman, you might see as a tactic, but the captain might be paid by the bookie to set certain field restrictions. 2010 Pakistan no ball spot-fixing was one scandal.
- Sometimes players are not directly involved with the match-fixing, but give information about the pitch, weather conditions and final team composition to the bookie during the conversation. The bookie can reach the player as a fan and tries to extract the knowledge from him. Players can be unaware of the bookie intention and unintentionally provide the information.
- Middlemen play a key role in linking the player to the bookie, the middlemen can reach in the form of the new bat dealer, the honey trap is set to tempt the player and record them in compromising situations, later than using it as evidence to blackmail the player.
- It is almost impossible to fix the complete match. The bookie tries to fix certain parts of the match called spot-fixing. It could be the number of runs scored in the last three overs, the number of sixes in the last over, etc.
- The betting is never done sitting in an office or a hotel room, the bookies keep changing the location, so that they can’t be tracked by the authorities.
- In the end, the punter ring decides to bet against the odds.
- “Hawala” is the common mode of transaction used in the Indian subcontinent. Hawala means no physical money is involved, the money is transferred through a phone call, fax between different locations.
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