With the stakes at an all-time high in the just concluded bypolls, bookmakers in the state are working overtime. While bets have been pouring in regarding the outcome of the bypolls in the 18 Assembly segments and the Nellore Lok Sabha seat, sources said that betting had reached a feverish pitch for the Parkal Assembly constituency.
Parkal was the only segment in the Telangana region that had bypolls and though initially the odds favoured the Telangana Rashtra Samiti or the Bharatiya Janata Party to win, the high polling percentage there has led to sudden speculations that Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party might surprise everyone. So, along with the TRS, many bookies have put their money on the YSR Congress. While most gamblers have bet on the YSR Congress winning around 14 seats, bookies are also accepting bets that the Congress and Telugu Desam will win one to two seats each.
Bypolls rejuvenate gambling industry
Large-scale betting on the just-concluded bypolls in the state have been reported from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam besides Guntur, East Godavari, West Godavari, Vizianagaram and other places in the state and also from Bellary and Bengaluru in neighbouring Karnataka.
“People are betting heavily on the YSR Congress. The bet is on whether the party would get 14 seats, less than that or more. Some have also bet on the TD and the Congress in some constituencies. The bypolls have actually given a new lease of life to the betting syndicate,” said a source. Sources said bets worth around Rs 1,000 crore would have been placed though it could not be confirmed given its illegal nature.
Industry sources said that besides the number of seats a party would win, bets were also being accepted on individual candidates winning or losing, who would win with the highest margin, the party with the highest and lowest number of seats and the parties that would come second and third.
Bets are also being accepted on whether the Kiran government will survive a month after the results. This, however, has very few takers, said sources.