The usual sounds of a cricket match in the background as bookies take calls, has now been replaced by the noise of news channels: because the odds on Srini-bets will move as news breaks.
Tainted BCCI chief N Srinivasan wasn’t very convincing when he told the media he would not be bulldozed into resigning. Among the people he failed to convince were Mumbai’s bookies. They are so certain about Srinivasan’s exit that they are offering Rs 3.50 for each rupee bet on him keeping his job. Betting on his ouster yields only a 20 paisa profit to the rupee.
Spot rates will keep changing, say bookies, and things like timing (such as: will he last the day) will be taken into account in bets on Srinivasan. An Ulhasnagar bookie said about Rs 50 crore worth of ‘Srini bets’ have come in over the last two days.
This past week has been taxing for bookies, most of whom have had to move base or suspend operations, but it has created some opportunities as well. The usual sounds of a cricket match in the background as bookies take calls, has now been replaced by the noise of news channels: because the odds on Srini-bets will move as news breaks. For this one, the fixers are at work in Delhi and Kolkata — where the IPL finals take place on Sunday.
"It seems likely that if he doesn't resign he may be booted out. Hence we are offering Rs 3.50 ps against a rupee to those who are saying he will stay," said to DNA. One of the biggest players in the betting game, an Ulhasnagar-based bookie, also gave the going rates for tomorrow's IPL match. "For Chennai its 90 paise, while for Mumbai it will be even."
Pointing out how the heat was on because of the latest scam he wondered why the police were chasing small fry like him. "I have had to change my place twice in the last few days," he complained and added, "If they really want to why don't they go after the really big fish?"
He recalled a
dna expose in June 2011 when the then stand-in captain
Suresh Raina's visit to Shirdi immediately after the IPL had raised several eyebrows in the temple town for all the wrong reasons. First, it was the presence of Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel's daughter Poorna with him that had tongues wagging. Then the cricketer's picture (see below) with notorious bookie, who was arrested in 2002 and 2008, Deepak Naraini, alias Balaji.
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