KATHMANDU, Dec 6: The inaugural season of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) has not just attracted foreign players but also foreign individuals involved in illegal betting to the Tribhuvan University cricket ground.
There might be a dearth of Indian players in the NPL, Shikhar Dhawan being the only one high-profile cricketer, but the representation of Indian betting scammers in the NPL is plenty. As a matter of fact, all of the seven individuals arrested by the police since the first match of the NPL for their involvement in illegal betting are Indian nationals.
A joint team of officials from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), Nepal Police Headquarters and Central Investigation Department (CID) arrested Suman Ghosh, 24, of Kolkata, and Amit Yadav, 25, of Kanpur from the TU cricket ground on Monday. On Tuesday, Brajesh Kumar Kushwaha, 30, and Sumant Kumar, 27, of Bihar, were arrested. Similarly, the trio of Sandeep Kumar Singh, 22, Priyanshu Kumar Singh, 21, and Rohit Sharma, 21, all from Ghatshila, Jharkhand, was arrested during the match between Karnali Yaks and Kathmandu Gurkhas on Wednesday.
How do they trick you?
Spokesperson for CIB, Superintendent of Police (SP) Hobindra Bogati informed Republica that these individuals were attending the matches to capitalize on the five seconds delay between the happenings on the cricket ground and the live broadcast to tweak the betting rates to attract clueless individuals to losing bets.
Three more arrested from Kirtipur on betting charges in NPL
“An observer watching the match in the stadium knows that a certain delivery is hit for a boundary around five seconds before the boundary is broadcast on TV or updated on a website,” SP Bogati said, “In those five seconds, the observer can update this information to a betting website increasing the rates for not scoring a boundary in that delivery and make millions of rupees by defrauding customers with enormous return rates for unwinnable bets.”
Police investigation has revealed that the seven individuals were using either of two Indian apps; Probo or SportsBaazi, to defraud the individuals clueless about the scam. According to Inspector Shekhar Khadka, an investigating officer into the case, all of the seven individuals were found using the app by the police unit mobilized to monitor illegal betting at the TU cricket ground.
How do the police recognize the betting scammers?
Since the very first match of the inaugural season of the NPL, a joint team of officials from the Nepal Police Headquarters, CID and CIB, led by SP Bogati has been working with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) formed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to monitor the presence of individuals involved in illegal betting at the TU cricket ground. The team has been employing a set of tactics to single out individuals potentially involved in illegal betting from the thousands of fans attending the matches.
SP Bogati told Republica that the most tell-tale sign of involvement in betting scam is the lack of resonation with the emotions of the game and the seeming continuous involvement somewhere else using mobile phones.
“While the fans are emotionally invested in the game, expressing their support for their teams, the bettors are unattached to the happenings, showing no emotional response,” he said, “In addition, these individuals are either glued to the screen of their smartphones or are in a continuous call throughout the game.” He added that the betting offenders also tend to isolate themselves from the crowd, either watching alone or in a small group with the same goal.
Police officials from the joint team also said that the repeated arrest of Indian nationals have also helped them to narrow their idea of potential suspects. “We mostly look for Indian individuals now,” one such official said.
Jamming mobile signals: the only way forward
With the arrest of the seven Indian nationals, the attention of the ACU has been driven to the possible measures to stop the illegal betting practices during the NPL. According to an investigating officer, one of the measures under consideration has been to simply ban mobile phones from the TU cricket ground.
However, Inspector Khadka questioned the feasibility of such a measure. “If CAN wishes to ban mobile phones from the ground, it needs to take responsibility for the security of the thousands of mobile phones that spectators take to the ground,” he said, “CAN has no system to facilitate smooth entry to the ground, forget the security of the phones.”
SP Bogati claimed that the only possible way to eradicate the cases of online betting scams in the NPL is to jam mobile signals at the ground. “If we can jam the mobile signals at the ground, the scammers will not be able to relay information to the betting websites, and illegal live-streaming of the matches will be stopped as a positive side-effect,” he said, “The only caveat to this measure is that spectators will also be disconnected from the outside world during the match.”
