I-T department is monitoring online betting sites

The taxmen are not only knocking on the doors of Lalit Modi and IPL franchisees but are also keeping a close eye over the money that is changing hands in the virtual world

The taxmen are not only knocking on the doors of Lalit Modi and IPL franchisees but are also keeping a close eye over the money that is changing hands in the virtual world.

The Income Tax department is closely observing the amount of money and regions from which the money is being sent to international betting sites, which accept bets from Indian citizens, for the IPL tournament. Over 15 international websites are on the I-T department's radar for accepting payment from India.

Online betting sites include UK-based Bet365, Ladbrokes, Victor Chandler and Paddypower as well as the London Stock Exchange-listed William Hill, besides the popular Betfair, BetClick and BlueSquare.
According to I-T department officials, the four sites that have been under particular scrutiny are Bet 365, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betfair, which are openly accepting bets from India.

Betfair was also mentioned in the Income Tax report that revealed that how foreign and Indian players colluded to fix games.

All the betting sites accept Indian registration. Payments to the foreign sites have to be made through legal money transfers and usually in dollars, pounds or euros. Some, Bet365 for example, accept rupee accounts too.
The tax officials said betting on the foreign sites might be checked to see whether the bets from India were legal under Indian laws. The exercise will try to identify the big Indian punters and whether there is any insider trading.

Satta kings

Year's largest blockbuster, the IPL final 2010, may have seen bets over Rs 5000 crore, according to the sources. The satta bazaar was unplugged with the IPL controversy and saw the IPL final between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings as the perfect finale for the betting to reach a crescendo.

"The amount of money riding over the IPL matches is such that we need to ascertain the role of big players from India who are placing bets online. After all, bets are placed on almost everything, wins, losses, runs per ball,u00a0u00a0 number of runs scored by a batsman, number of wickets taken by a bowler, the Man of the Match and third umpire decisions," said a tax official.

Other sites under the tax department's watch are: 888Sport, Betfred, Betinternet, Betclic, Blue Square, Bodog, Paddy Power, Expekt, Sky Bet, Stan James and Victor Chandler.

Police have busted betting rooms in places such as Jharkhand and Haryana.