Bookies in overdrive betting on sex of Aishwarya Rai's baby

With no India-Pakistan cricket matches around and ‘silly season’ showing no signs of retreating – the Indian betting syndicate has just stumbled upon its hottest property: Baby Bachchan.

Sources confirm that the thriving betting industry in Mumbai, with its  branches across the country and outside it like Dubai, have already started accepting bets on whether the five-months pregnant, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan’s child will a boy or a girl.

According to sources, crores of rupees have been accepted as bets on the gender of the child. Some of the bookies have also allegedly tried getting in touch with Aishwarya’s obstetrician (at a leading suburban hospital in Mumbai) to know whether the couple has tried to determine the sex of the child.

Determination of an unborn child’s sex is illegal in India even though the gender can be detected in four months. Fresh rumours are now contradicting the earlier ones of the actor being pregnant with twins. Cyber space is already abuzz with speculations on increasing stakes.

“The odds are on a girl because most expect that it would be a boy. If you bet on Aishwarya having a girl then you stand to win more money,” says a bookie on conditions of anonymity.
According to most bookies, though the size of the bets from individuals are small compared to India-Pakistan matches, the total money into the betting racket for this issue might lead up to not less than Rs 100 crore!