Hyderabad: Betting organisers in Hyderabad are using apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Bet 365 to conduct their business. Tech savvy bookies use these apps to receive minute-by-minute updates on stakes, scores and bets, and to convey it to their punters. Other organisers buy multiple SIM cards and use them to conduct conference calls with bookies. Temporary “helplines” and “contact lines” are set up by organisers using these SIM cards. Money collection usually happens in the field, through agents; and most organisers collect the money beforehand, in order to avoid disputes.
An official from the Task Force said, “Bookies in the city are now using apps to stay in touch with punters, so that they can give them ball-by-ball updates. Some of them create special groups on these apps, while others deal with punters individually.”
In several colleges across the city, students have secret WhatsApp groups through which they get information about organisers.
“If any student is interested in betting, he will be added to the group by the guy who controls the racket locally. The members in the group receive all the updates, and they can message the organiser if they are interested in investing money,” said a second year B. Tech student from a popular engineering college on the outskirts of the city. “There are also closed Facebook groups that are temporarily created. A student can request to join and track the betting process,” he added.
According to the Cyberabad Police, these rackets also use websites such as betfair.com, where people play on behalf of punters, for a commission. “They get up to 10 per cent on each bet from the punters. They talk to the punters over the phone and record their conversations in order to avoid any disputes as the game progresses,” an official from the Special Operation Team said.
