This is an interesting report adds to what is being discussed here:
Illegal cricket betting makes millions for Indian gangs
The role of the gambling syndicates, that can make millions from the outcome of a single game, has been highlighted by the allegation that three Pakistani cricket players were involved in a betting scam during their team’s current tour of England.
Rahul Tandon looks at how Indian gangs are at the heart of an international network where cricket and criminality come together.
As misguidedly gung-ho public defences go, this was way past William Hague’s effort. Had Hasan stuck to an argument that the burden of proof lay with the newspaper that made the accusations, innocent until proven guilty and all that, he might have garnered some sympathy.
**As soon as he cast Pakistan as political martyrs to their Indian neighbours and political enemies, he was cast as a preposterous fool.
**
Hasan berated Scotland Yard and complained the charges were ‘unhelpful’. This came just 24 hours after the delightfully named Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, insisted the trio of accused players would remain in the touring party unless official charges were brought - thus forcing everyone’s hand.
And then you remembered who was really being unhelpful. Pakistan are guests in this country. They have used England as their base for a Test series against Australia because they are unable to play in their own land following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore last year. This was no way to reward their hosts…
**
…Friday was a rest day for the Pakistan cricket team; they split the squad into two and played a game between themselves. No news on whether both sides lost yet…**
How can you blame bookies for all these? If the bookies are Indians and operate from India then there should be more harm to Indian players than Pakis isn't it? But why do mostly Paki players get caught in the match fixings every other day?... because Indian players are very patriotic and when it comes for the pride for their nation they always stand together, on the other hand Pakistani players are busy individually in making money for their own benefit, they need to develop self-respect first before they expect others to respect them. There is the serious problem of unity among Pakistanis which I've also noticed on GS.
How can you blame bookies for all these? If the bookies are Indians and operate from India then there should be more harm to Indian players than Pakis isn't it? But why do mostly Paki players get caught in the match fixings every other day?... because Indian players are very patriotic and when it comes for the pride for their nation they always stand together, on the other hand Pakistani players are busy individually in making money for their own benefit, they need to develop self-respect first before they expect others to respect them. There is the serious problem of unity among Pakistanis which I've also noticed on GS.
spot on....we do have problems that we need to sort out....
asif, you are being too naive.......these syndicates are very well managed and run with proper management hierarchy in place…just like the corporate world, where sales forces have their own territories and where salesmen employ sales force effectiveness principles to maximize the revenue numbers, these syndicates also have their own territories and revenue numbers that they have to meet by end of the month….lower bookies will report to dada of their territory which in turn will report to dada who will be managing eastern or western portion of the city and will be reporting to leader of his gang which in turn will report to the real big boss (dawood, choota shakil or choota rajan etc)….usually when police conducts operation, lower level bookies get arrested but the senior leadership will always be safe….? Even if police tries to get them, it is virtually impossible as those leaders nowdays are sitting in far east…..there is no real way you can eradicate illegal betting syndicates (even partially) from Bombay.....you will do it once and they will re-surface after 3 months
but why not make the betting legal in cricket......betting is legal in many other sports...why not cricket? make it more transparent and open...Soccer is definitely one of the most popular games in the world. With more and more people wanting to not just enjoy the game but also willing to profit from it legally, soccer betting was made legal by authorities.. i think betting is also allowed in American football....so why are we keeping cricket betting so secret? Illegal betting will still be there but by making it legal and inducing government intervention and tax authorities, the grip of illegal syndicates will definitely be weakened....
Asif I agree that the authorities should do more to get rid of these gangs of bookies. I am just saying that is not realistic that the corrupt Indian authorities will achieve this anytime soon. They should also get rid of poverty and corruption all together etc etc... will not be achieved anytime soon. Meanwhile all the ICC BCCI PCB and other boards can do is severely punish the culprits within the cricket fraternity. That would be most effective imo.
why are you people harping about bookies as if "bookmaking" is interchangeable with "match-fixing"? 99.9% of bookie activity is the facilitation of legitimate gambling. given that india is by far the largest cricket market and indians like to gamble - it would obviously follow that most cricket betting will be controlled by or involve indian bookies.
as for match-fixing, bookies like to make an easy buck just like anyone else. if there are players to be bought, you can be sure some bookie or another will buy them. if not, they will go about their normal business of handling legitimate bets.
the objective should be to understand why pakistani players are for sale while most others are not. it probably has to do with the fact that pakistani players make far less money both on and off the field and many seem to be uneducated villagers from poor families.
pakistani players seem to be uneducated villagers from poor families.
sure...and all indian players have graduated from wharton, columbia, harvard and stanford....munaf patel was a rhodes scholar where as yousaf and irfan pathan belong to a billionare family based in a posh area of bombay.......bala jee was recruited from oxford where he was doing his Phd....none of them came from villages or small states....
phoenix.. good job ignoring the valid points in nikhil's post and picking on 1 inaccuracy hahahahaha..
true say.. i dont think azhar and jadeja were POOR.. yet they did what they did..
the pak players might be making less compared to the rest but in their home countries i believe (correct me if im wrong) they still make a lot of money and lead lavish lifestyles..
it's a corrupt system.. pak cricket.. thats the bigger problem I feel..
phoenix.. good job ignoring the valid points in nikhil's post and picking on 1 inaccuracy hahahahaha..
true say.. i dont think azhar and jadeja were POOR.. yet they did what they did..
the pak players might be making less compared to the rest but in their home countries i believe (correct me if im wrong) they still make a lot of money and lead lavish lifestyles..
it's a corrupt system.. pak cricket.. thats the bigger problem I feel..
just did not like the way nikhil called them uneducated poor villagers.......and to your point, yes these established paki players make good money...plus what about malinga, murli and mendis.....malinga comes from a very small village and a very humble background..same about mendis and murli.....having said that, salaries and match fees in pak, sri-lanka and BD should be improved.....
sure...and all indian players have graduated from wharton, columbia, harvard and stanford....munaf patel was a rhodes scholar where as yousaf and irfan pathan belong to a billionare family based in a posh area of bombay.......bala jee was recruited from oxford where he was doing his Phd....none of them came from villages or small states....
firstly, there is no reason to be offended. a cricketer's value is not determined by his education level or his family's net worth. it is disappointing to see that you are offended by this accurate observation. i made that observation in a specific context: factors that, either alone or in combination, contribute to a player's heightened inclination towards fixing. i'm not sure why you decided to insert an india-pakistan war as some misguided and unnecessary defense mechanism against my nonexistent insult.
as for indian players, even if they were all illiterate slum guys, they are too wealthy and too aware of earnings potential for these issues to arise. azhar and jadeja played in a different era and earned peanuts. today random players who have no chance of finding a spot in the team are crorepatis. yusuf/irfan pathan may be from poor backgrounds but they are millionaires by legitimate means. forget about the regularly selected top players who would actually attract bookie attention.