Hyderabad:As Telangana voted on Thursday, betting syndicates worked over time and kept cops on tenterhooks on polling day. The enthusiasm over the Telangana polls outcome is no less even on Friday, a day after polls concluded. Betting goes unabated though it is illegal in the southern state.
According to police sources, who did not wish to be named, punters, who put their money over the Cricket World Cup, are betting to the tune of crores on the possible win and loss of political parties. An estimated Rs 500 crore have been placed both offline and online, and the figure is projected to rise in the coming days, they said.
The police report said some popular topics of discussion in bookies’ circles are, "Which party will come to power"?, "who are the winning horses in the constituencies"? and "what are candidates’ margin of win and loss in various constituencies?”
Bets worth Rs 1000 crore were placed on the outcome of elections in poll-bound states such as Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh besides Telangana. The election results for every state will be announced on December 3, though polling is conducted on separate dates. According to the officials, the craze in punters’ market is overwhelming.
‘You can win two lakhs if you bet one lakh’
People are being lured into believing they will get just double the amount already spent in the betting market. Crores of rupees are being spent on Chief Minister KCR, PCC President Revanth Reddy, ministers KTR and Harish Rao, BJP leader Etala Rajendar and some others who, are attracting increased attention from bettors. There is a lot of talk about the candidate's chances of winning, even though the primary concern is which party will win the 119 legislative seats in the state and form the government. On certain online betting apps and websites, bets worth Rs 1 lakh are placed. A few bookmakers anticipate odds of 1:10.