IPL becomes Indian Punters League

The cash rich Indian Premier League (IPL) has severely hit the image of gentlemen’s game. Not only cricket fans are excited with the start of Indian T20 extravaganza but bookies are also going ga-ga over it.

It has indeed turned into a betting paradise for bookies.

As per the reports, the bookies are expected to make a business of over 80,000 crore in the fifth edition of IPL.

"We are expecting to make Rs 800 crore through betting in the IPL 5, " said a Nagpur based bookie. On the other hand, Rs 1000 crores have been invested in Indore.

Interestingly, betting mafias are operating from villages and low profile city to avoid police action. They are inviting betting through online and mobile.

Online betting business has already crossed Rs 75000 crore so far. Punters believe that it may cross 1 lakh crore this year. Last year, the online betting business was around Rs 50,000 crore.

Bookies feel that online betting is the safest way to escape police as all the transactions are being made online.

At the time when International Cricket Council is battling hard to tackle the match fixing issue, IPL has been encouraging betting freely.

Whereas BCCI, Cricketers, Sponsors and franchises are making huge money from IPL, bookies are forcing youths to dangerous betting quagmire.

The IPL tournament took bloody turn too. In Andhra Pradesh, an engineering student kidnapped a boy and murdered him for ransom to pay bookies.

No doubt, IPL has taken cricket to highest level of glamour and money, but it also breeding betting nursery rapidly.