{"id":18956,"date":"2021-06-14T14:08:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T14:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=18956"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:36:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:36:48","slug":"india-4-arrested-after-police-bust-cricket-betting-racket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/india-4-arrested-after-police-bust-cricket-betting-racket","title":{"rendered":"India: 4 arrested after police bust cricket betting racket"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Four people have been arrested in Andhra Pradesh on charges of organising illegal bets on Pakistan Super League matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>India.- Police in Andhra Pradesh have busted an<strong>&nbsp;illegal cricket betting racket&nbsp;<\/strong>that was taking bets on the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to local media,&nbsp;<strong>four people were arrested through a joint operation<\/strong>&nbsp;between the City Task Force and the PM Palem Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the raid,<strong>&nbsp;police seized SIM cards<\/strong>, 29 mobile phones, laptops, TV sets, five account books and<strong>&nbsp;INR1,590 (US$21.70)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police believe<strong>&nbsp;the cricket betting racket<\/strong>&nbsp;operated on the match between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi, and the match between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those arrested are aged between 29 and 34. <strong>They used an app to communicate ratings of the match<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In May, a cleaner was arrested in India after&nbsp;<strong>police found he was \u201cpitch-siding\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 taking advantage of the delay between live sports action and its television broadcast to place bets \u2013 during an&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/india-cleaner-arrested-for-pitch-siding-for-illegal-betting-sindicate\">IPL match<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Times of India newspaper, an&nbsp;<strong>Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) officer found the cleaner talking by phone in a secluded area<\/strong>&nbsp;during an&nbsp;<strong>IPL match&nbsp;<\/strong>between Rajasthan Royals and SunRisers Hyderabad on May 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the<strong>&nbsp;officer asked the cleaner what he was doing<\/strong>, the man told him he was talking to his girlfriend, but when the officer asked him to dial the number he was talking to,&nbsp;<strong>the suspect tried to escape leaving behind his two mobile phones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ACU officer immediately reported the incident to the Delhi Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cricket remains India\u2019s most popular sport<\/strong>. There is a huge underground cricket betting market said to be worth between US$45bn and US$150bn a year. Around 80 per cent of illegal sports betting in India is on Cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However,&nbsp;<strong>Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala<\/strong>, the head of the<strong>&nbsp;Anti-Corruption Unit of the Board of Control for Cricket in India&nbsp;<\/strong>(BCCI), said that he is firmly against the possibility of<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/indian-cricket-chief-against-legalisation-of-sports-betting\">legalising sports betting<\/a><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike<strong>&nbsp;his predecessor<\/strong>, who had stated that<strong>&nbsp;legalising betting would be the most effective&nbsp;<\/strong>means of preventing corruption within the game, Khandwawala believes legal&nbsp;<strong>sports<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>betting would encourage match-fixing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said: \u201c<strong>We can make the rules more strict<\/strong>. We will work on that. It is a matter of great prestige that cricket is largely free of corruption. Credit should go to the BCCI for that.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four people have been arrested in Andhra Pradesh on charges of organising illegal bets on Pakistan Super League matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Indian authorities in Andhra Pradesh have dismantled an illegal cricket betting operation linked to the Pakistan Super League, leading to four arrests and significant seizures. This incident highlights the persistent challenge of illicit wagering within India's substantial underground sports betting market, estimated at up to US$150 billion annually. The head of the BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit reiterated a firm stance against sports betting legalization, citing match-fixing risks, despite previous arguments for its potential to curb corruption.","focusai_entities":"City Task Force, PM Palem Police, Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi, Rajasthan Royals, SunRisers Hyderabad, Anti-Corruption Unit, Times of India, Delhi Police, Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala, Board of Control for Cricket in India","focusai_location":"Andhra Pradesh, India, Delhi","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.8), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"India Legalization Outlook","query":"Given the BCCI's firm stance against legalization, what are the realistic timelines and potential triggers for a policy shift towards regulated sports betting in India, considering the vast illicit market?"},{"label":"Combatting Illicit Wagering","query":"What advanced technological and cross-jurisdictional enforcement strategies are being considered to effectively combat the sophisticated illegal betting networks operating within India's substantial underground market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16334],"tags":[229,233],"class_list":["post-18956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-gambling","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18956"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18987,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18956\/revisions\/18987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}