BENGALURU, 6 MAY 

With Indian Premier League 2024 coming to the last stages the next weekend, hundreds of people have lost lakhs of rupees in betting this year.

The gangs in Bengaluru manage online betting using laptops and mobile phones and contact clients via WhatsApp.

Salar News spoke to those mainly from below the poverty line who had lost substantial money on this year’s IPL betting. Subanna (name changed), a restaurant employee earning Rs 20,000 per month, said: “This IPL, I just began betting for fun and made some money initially and got hooked on it. I began borrowing money from friends and relatives and now I have debts to the tune of Rs 2 lakh. I am at wit's end as to how I am going to pay back these loans. My earnest appeal to youngsters is please do not resort to betting I feel this entire drama is fixed.”

Pradeep (name changed), an employee of a vegetable shop, said: “I lost around Rs 5 lakh last year in betting and I had to sell off my wife’s jewellery to pay off my debts. This year I thought I would bet on a few matches and ended up losing more than Rs 3.5 lakh.”

A large number of those who placed bets in this year’s IPL have mortgaged their cars with financiers in the City. Several cars including high-end cars are lying in yards belonging to financiers in most parts of the City. S Harish, a financer from Challakere, said: “I have got more than 50 two-wheelers and 15 cars which have been mortgaged with me by those who placed bets on IPL this year. In all probability, they would not be able to redeem their vehicles back as there is a time frame after which we would sell it off since the documents pertaining to the vehicles have already been signed by the vehicle owners.”

Last month, Ranjitha, 23, a homemaker, was found hanging at her residence in  Chitradurga. Police investigation revealed that her husband Darshan Babu, assistant engineer, was into cricket betting and had a debt of over Rs 1 crore.

Betting websites often don't require users to register with original Aadhaar cards or other ID proofs, facilitating anonymity in transactions. This makes it difficult for police officers to track them.—Salar News