Emergency hits betting market for a six in Pakistan

The state of Emergency in Pak has also hit the multi-million rupees cricket betting market, bookmakers and former Test players said.

The state of Emergency in Pakistan has also hit the multi-million rupees cricket betting market with lukewarm response towards the ongoing Indo-Pak series, bookmakers and former Test players said on Tuesday.

Some local bookmakers confirmed that big and small-time bookies and punters have held back their money which, in normal conditions, is bet heavily on Indo-Pak matches.

“It is because of the Emergency prevailing in the country. People are more interested to know how tense and uncertain is the situation in the country and the stock market which plummeted since the Emergency,” Danyal, a bookmaker, said.

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According to former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif, it was not just bookies in Pakistan who are facing losses because of low investment in the current series.

He said people in India and Dubai are also shy of betting on the matches and the losses of the bookies could total in crores because of the Emergency in Pakistan.

The Indo-Pak series started Monday with the first ODI in Guwahati.

Danyal said the main reason for the low inflow of money on the first ODI was also because bookies and their punters were facing problems communicating with each other and following the matches and related developments on television.

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President General Pervez Musharraf, who imposed the Emergency on Saturday, has led a clampdown on private news channels which have been blacked out by cable operators on local lines.