Hyderabad: With Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao not calling for early elections on Sunday, the betting scenario in the state has warmed up over the poll date.
The magnitude of betting increases several folds during the pre-poll and post-poll scenarios and runs into thousand of crores not only across the state but worldwide considering the population of Telangana people across the globe, police officials say.
The bookies are offering huge rates for the election dates. According to sources, the bookies are offering Rs 12 for every Rs 10 if the dates fall in December while it is Rs 13 for every Rs 10 if it falls in January.
The betting syndicates are expecting polls to be held by December-end. The rates offered for polls after March are relatively high at Rs 16 to Rs 17 offered for every '10.
The bettors were focused on Sunday’s Cabinet meeting and the TRS pre-poll rally and the manner in which the crowds were gathered by the leaders for the Nivedana Sabha.
On Sunday there was reportedly heavy beating on the possibility of Mr Rao calling for early elections.
The bookies are offering bets on various aspects including the possibility of President's Rule, political alliances, contesting candidates from various constituencies, apart from the dates.
The bets in future will also be placed on the number of seats the TRS, Congress, Telugu Desam, BJP and the MIM will bag in the state. According to sources, the betting on the seats any party would win would increase after the Assembly is dissolved and as the elections near.
The party-wise betting will be a hit after the poll dates are announced while the candidate-wise betting picks up once the nominations are finalised if the polls are held early. Similarly, the Assembly constituencies will also play an important role other than the expected vote percentage at a later stage.
The betting activity is both online and offline as in the state there is a mix of population which is tech-savvy and non-familiar with technology, another police official points out.
The betting industry has a coterie of kingmaker bookies who have their own intelligence channels to analyse the political situation and arrive at the numbers. Since they do this during every election, the bookmakers are quite hands-on.
Once the elections are announced and the frenzy starts picking up, this group opens the odds and everybody picks it up.
The odds can change in the following days depending on the announcement of candidates and the campaigns. Local bookies also customise the odds to suit the ground situation.
