Denied tickets, betting sites still vie for seats in poll arena

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

election?

Now, a slew of offshore apps and websites — albeit operating illicitly in India — are offering a chance to wager on the outcome of the world’s largest electoral process. Bets that can run into lakhs of rupees are being made across a dozen apps and websites over the results, margins of victory and party showing, an analysis by ET showed.

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Modus Operandi

These players give users the option to choose the constituency, candidate and the political party they want to bet on.

For instance, Fairplay, which offers wagers on Indian Premier League cricket, has a new ticker as a lure: “Dear users, Lok Sabha 2024 election markets are now available for betting!” Jannat Book also provides similar offerings.

An mFilterIt analysis shows around 12 sites, such as om247.com, jaibook.com, satsport247.net and bacardi777.com, are offering poll bets. Most of these operate from outside India and are a likely part of one company’s common syndicate of apps, according to the digital fraud prevention agency.

“The bet amount ranges from as low as Rs 100 up to Rs 10 lakh. The monies are transferred to mule accounts through UPI payments or bank transfers. All this money moves out of the country using these accounts and crypto wallets without any tax being