The authorities failed to crack down on the bookies (a racket involved gambling on cricket matches), as several made fortunes and as many lost millions of rupees in Kasur and its adjacent districts in the third one-day-international match between Pakistan and India.
According to sources, the gambling take place in many parts of the country in an organised way, as it was hard to assess the actual amount at stake. The sources said hundreds of Lahore based bookies with close connections in the Gulf and Europe had been working through sub-agents spread in different cities, villages and towns.
From toss to the result, there is gambling on every single ball. "Who will win the toss, who will 1st bat or field, individual and team's scores. The bookies and their sub-agents also demand a relaxation of percentage from their clients and sometimes give them the same or variation percentage about unpredictable betting over runs indifferent spell of overs and at a total score.
It was also revealed that there was betting on whether any team batting first would play all the overs of a match or be bowled out with overs or balls to spare. The other options are, about individual batsman at crease will thrash how may sixes and boundaries.
They said those involved in the business used cell phones. Most of the prize bond dealers, currency dealers and PCO owners in big and small cities of the country were sub-agents of these bookies. The sources disclosed that the mafia was powerful for having connections with those matters.
In the Punjab, the main focus of these bookies were Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Multan, Faisalabad, Okara, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Jhang, Sahiwal, T.T.Singh, Sheikhupura and Kasur. The representatives of various social, religious organisations as well as the prominent persons of the district demanded the authorities concerned to clamp down on the bookies immediately.