The defeat of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2010 final last night left many people in Chhattisgarh financially shattered even bookies smile at the victory of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
According to bookies, their clients in the state were betting their money on Mumbai Indians (MI) following the performance of the team owned by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). The tight bowling performance from MI bowlers restricting CSK to go for big score in first 10 overs substantiated their confidence.
Mumbai's win was quoted at 70 paise for a rupee bet (a punter betting on it would get 70 paise and his rupee back), a bookie said, adding that the odds on CSK were 90 paise for a rupee bet. The IPL final saw betting of over Rs 50 crore in the Chhattisgarh satta bazaar (illegal betting market).
When the MI openers walked to the pitch to chase the target of 168 runs, the equation changed as punters blindly placed bet at 60 paise on CSK and 90 paise on MI.
People believed that it was not a big target and MI would easily win the final, the bookies said. Just to amass more, punters put the bet on MI, they added.
Sources said that most of the punters had expressed confidence on master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. At the end of the day, it was a bolt from the blue for the people when MI lost to CSK.
Having lost huge money in the IPL final, the punters have now started the blame game.
People now feel that the IPL final was fixed and had helped bookies to earn huge profit with the defeat of Mumbai Indians, said a bookie.