KARACHI- The International Cricket Council can steal Pakistan’s right to host the Cricket World Cup, but not our passion to win bets: at least 250 bookmakers in Karachi are accepting wagers on matches being played in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – albeit in an illegal trade that has the patronage of government officials and the high-ups of the police department. Ghas Mandi, a small, congested locality near the Timber Market, is one of the areas where the bookmaking trade is thriving: many bookies have rented houses and apartments, but pay up to five times as much as the regular rates to lease their temporary places of work.
“A house or an apartment can usually be rented out for as low as Rs5,000; the maximum one usually has to pay is Rs8,000. For the purpose of the World Cup, bookies are paying more than 20,000 to house owners in rent while some 56 bookmakers have also purchased their own property in Ghas Mandi,” sources told Pakistan Today. There are three options to place a bet, code-named Fancy, Long and Win. Fansy is for those interesting in placing bets on a pre-defined number of overs, with the minimum being 10. Long interests those who want to place bets on one complete innings. Those who go for the Win are interested in forecasting the outcome of a match.
A bookmaker offers odds for both teams before a match starts, but code words are used to refer to both the rates and the teams. The rate offered to Pakistan Today for a Pakistan match was 40/41 – “40, 41 ka bhao hay, kha lo ya laga lo (The going rate is 40 and 41, which one will you bet on?),” the bookie said. When two strong teams play against each other, the odds given are very low. But when a high-profile team takes on a low-profile one, the odds are usually high. The stakes in favour of England against Ireland were 14-73, and bookies managed to make billions of rupees when the Englishmen lost.
If a match is tied, as was the case in the India-England match, all bets are off and no one makes any money. Ghas Mandi is but one of the areas where bookmakers are operating: sources told Pakistan Today that some 150 bookies have set up their operations in Ghas Mandi, but others have set up their offices in Kharadar, Mausamiat Chowrangi, Ranchore Lines and even Defence and Clifton. In total, more than 1,300 bookmakers are operating across the country; apart from government officials and law enforcers, some former players and relatives of these players are also alleged to be involved in the bookmaking racket. Bookies have different hideouts in the city while so called white collars families are running this business from their homes.
But each bookmaker can accepts bet up to a particular limit, depending on the limit allowed in his books. A bookie typically has one book with a specific upper limit for money that can be accepted. When he crosses the limit allowed to him, the client is referred to a colleague with a higher limit. “The ceilings allowed in books are as low as 25,000 rupees and as high as 25 billion rupees. So, for instance, a bookie with an upper limit of Rs 25,000 cannot accept a bet that can return Rs30,000. If a customer wants to increase his wagers, the bookmaker will contact a colleague who has a book for Rs50,000 or more,” a bookmaker told Pakistan Today.
There are situations when the upper limits of even the highest allowed are crossed, he said, explaining that bookmakers then have to contact their colleagues in India who can accommodate these bets.
Almost all bookies in Karachi reference their book according to their cell phone number or land line number. Many book numbers start with 0300, 0321 and 0333 – therefore identifying beforehand how much a prospective client is interested in wagering. Those interested in placing bets contact their bookies accordingly, but usually have to provide reference of a person close to the bookie. With such an elaborate mechanism in place, there are millions and billions to be made – a fact not lost on political groups and law enforcers.
“Bookies in Ghas Mandi alone pay Rs250 million per month to a man named Sub-Inspector (SI) Waseem, who liaises not only with police stations but also with political and criminal groups,” sources said. The advantage of dealing with SI Waseem, according to bookies, is that he directly deals with the high-ups of the Home Department and the Police Department, sometimes even delivering their cut of the booty to their doorsteps.
SI Waseem allegedly also has great sway over postings of various SHOs, and has barred local police stations from venturing into Ghas Mandi. Another man who liaises on behalf of the police is Ishtiaq Ganja, and he is responsible for Defence, Clifton, Kharadar, and other areas in the South Zone. Ganja himself is a bookmaker, and runs a book in Defence and Clifton which has a limit of 100 million rupees.
