Intelligence agencies are alarmed about the proliferation of online betting sites in India, with informed sources saying that they have alerted even the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of the cash outflow from India.
It is reliably learnt that the agencies have compiled details of the cash outflow from India to global destinations where these betting sites are located. The agencies have also informed the PMO that a significant portion of this cash is used for sponsoring cricket in next door Pakistan.
For the record, India doesn’t allow Pakistan to send its cricketers to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and hasn’t had a bilateral series with them for over a decade now. But the agencies have told the PMO that it is a cruel irony that the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is sponsored largely with Indian cash.
Consider this one. Investigations show sky247.net, which makes no secret that it’s an online betting shop in the cloak of cricket news, makes 70% of its revenue from the Indian punters to be the official sponsor of PSL, which in itself is worth $330 million or Rs 2,640 crore. And then, sky247.net were also title sponsors of Pakistan’s T20 series against South Africa, played in Abu Dhabi last year.
Investigators have told this reporter that sky247.net makes a whopping “kill” in the Indian market. A cursory visit to the website confirms it: At the very end of its homepage is the list of cricket series it sponsors. It not only includes PSL but also Lanka Premier League, the title sponsorship of the one-day series between UAE and Ireland; and a plethora of T10 and T20 tournaments across the globe. As if this is not all, sky247.net also sponsored the Indian cricket team’s tour of Sri Lanka last year, say the investigators. “This is pretty impressive one would say for a website/betting app which has been in existence for a little over two years,” said a top ED official.
The official further told this reporter that it has been brought to the notice of the investigating agencies that
