Cricket betting operators renting off-the-radar homes & hotels in Goa

PANAJI: Easy access to rented rooms and houses and slim chances of being found in a crowded, popular tourist state, racketeers running lucrative cricket betting find Goa an ideal hideout in a cricket crazy country.
In the last couple of weeks Goa police cracked down on cricket betting rackets operating in the state and arrested more than 25 people.
While those arrested secured bail and were released, the accused hit the sweet spot by choosing places to operate from that could not easily be traced.With some ingenuity racketeers kept well below the radar and hired bungalows in isolated places, rented hotels not being regularly checked by authorities and even rented houses not registered with the tourism department as guest houses and thus being run illegally.
“The accused think that the police will not be able to reach them. But we have our informers. The moment we get the information, we gather more intelligence and a raid is conducted,” a police officer said.
The officer said that illegal betting was at its peak to coincide with the country’s richest, biggest and popular domestic cricket, the IPL.
“Whenever we find that any house has been rented illegally, we send a report to the tourism director to take action against the owner of the house, or the guest house or bungalow,” the officer said. Officers then link such intelligence inputs to tenant verification — a mandatory for all rented premises — by the owner of the premises. This gives the police sufficient data to move in.
On Thursday, the crime branch of Goa police busted an alleged cricket betting racket in Pernem and arrested two persons. The branch also seized electronic items worth Rs1.5 lakh. Last month, three persons were arrested after Porvorim police raided a private bungalow for allegedly carrying out illegal cricket betting. Saligao police were also in on the act against sporting illegalities when they bust an alleged IPL betting racket, arresting 3 persons and also seized electronic equipment worth Rs4.5 lakh.
Police said that operators follow a modus operandi by sharing a link for an app via social media. This is followed by sharing bank details for the operator and a customer joins the app by depositing the requisite money. Customers can start betting soon as a customer ID is created on the app. Since it is an app-based betting racket, the Information Technology Act is applicable, police said, which gives legal recognition to transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication.