Mumbai: The cricket World Cup final between India and Australia saw bookies place between Rs60,000 crore and Rs70,000 crore in bets. A bookie said on condition of anonymity that India were the favourite going into the match. In the betting market, India’s price was 45 to 50 paise while Australia’s price was 55-60 paise. That is, a punter betting Rs1 lakh on an Indian victory would have won Rs45,000-50,000.
More Than 500 Websites Were Active For Betting
Bookies said that on the day of the World Cup title match, about 500-600 websites and 300-400 mobile apps were active, and punters could bet on everything from the toss to the total score and their favourite batter or bowler.
If someone bet Rs1 lakh on a team winning the toss, they stood to gain Rs90,000 if their hunch was right. There was also betting on who among the top batters would score a century.
Betting Continued Till Last Ball Was Bowled
Initially most of the money was on an Indian victory, but when the Indian innings ended at 240 runs, the market swung towards an Austraian win. The bookie told The Free Press Journal that betting continued till the last ball of the match. He said most of the bets were taken online and the bookies were far away from the city to avoid the police.
