Goa Police bust IPL betting racket, 34 held
New Delhi: The Goa Crime Branch has busted a large-scale illicit IPL betting ring, arresting 34 people and recovering gambling-related material worth almost Rs 40 lakh. The racket was uncovered following a complaint by Police Inspectors Prashal Desai and Laxi Amonkar, resulting in the filing of two cases under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, the GDD Public Gambling Act, and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, the officials informed on Thursday.
The accused operated out of two establishments in Panaji. Acting upon reliable inputs, the police searched both these spots and found a well-structured bookmaking syndicate operating with renowned betting applications, including Reddy, Lotus, and Lionking 247.BET. The group reportedly caused members of the public to deposit money into different bank accounts run under fictitious names, thus masterminding a huge cheating and cyber fraud conspiracy. During the raid, it was discovered that the accused had leased whole buildings to carry out their illegal activities. They were not just betting on IPL matches but had also indulged in betting on other prominent sports events such as the ICC Champions Trophy. Several of the accused were functioning as customer support agents, rendering both pay-in and pay-out services to bookies and punters all over the country. The investigations further disclosed that the accused were members of a wider national and global network of gambling agents. the official said.
Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Rahul Gupta, at a press briefing said that the magnitude of the operation marks it as one of India’s largest betting crackdowns to date. The illegal network, he said, extended beyond the IPL to other cricket formats and football, functioning through a sophisticated digital setup. Gupta explained that acting on specific intelligence inputs, teams launched a coordinated offensive with the support of the IRB (India Reserve Battalion). The betting network, he said, had a well-structured system in place—complete with dedicated customer service teams, digital payment channels for transactions, and high-end technical infrastructure designed to avoid detection.
Police seized dozens of mobile phones, laptops, desktops, routers, Indian passports, SIM cards, bank passbooks, checkbooks, and ATM cards.
