The law-enforcers have stepped up raids to crack down on the gamblers for acts of betting inside cricket stadiums during Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) matches.
A series of police raids have already been conducted in recent days in an effort to tackle the menace, sources concerned said.
Although betting is illegal in the country, a total of 77 people on suspicion were thrown out of stadiums in Dhaka and Sylhet during recent matches. Even 10 of the accused offenders were found to be Indians who were using their smartphones to place live bets before the scores were shown on TV screen.
The televised matches are usually screened five to nine seconds behind the actual match time as proceedings take place in the stadium. Gamblers are using this time difference to play the betting game.
The bettors were carefully monitored before being eventually caught and thrown out by the police.
Betting allegations were also there during the first and second editions of BPL in the years of 2011 and 2012 in addition to match-fixing scandals.
The sources, however, said betting is becoming a typical scenario in cities and remote towns during the BPL matches.
Restaurants, as well as tea stalls, have become a common venue for fans to conduct betting during the matches. On November 6, a university student in Dhaka was allegedly murdered after being involved in an argument over a BPL match.
Telecom regulator Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has so far blocked 12 betting websites to stop the growing trend of betting.
