Delhi Police Arrests 3,500 Individuals over Illegal Gambling

India may be close to – or at least attempting to – legalize another state for gambling, but in the meantime, law enforcement had to stay extra busy and ensure that it’s on point when it comes to tackling illegal gambling. The Delhi police arrested more than 3,500 people who were involved in 1,489 illegal gambling cases since the beginning of the year.

Delhi Police Continues to Act Against Illegal Gambling

The data was published on May 15 and encompasses the period. Police arrested all culprits under the Delhi Public Gambling Act which exclusively prohibits unlicensed gambling on the territory of the city.

The people involved in those illegal gambling operations were mostly running betting rackets luring inexperienced gamblers into debt and forcing them to pay exorbitant interest rates. The total cases of illegal gambling have remained fairly unchanged, although police would like to believe that it’s already observing some improvements in the overall number of cases with a downward trend emerging.

But betting rackets remain a serious problem. They are operated both as part of organized criminal groups and on smaller local levels, which threaten the safety of citizens and vulnerable consumers. Commenting on these operations, a senior police official was quoted saying:

Small-scale betting rackets involve mostly people like autorickshaw drivers, truck drivers, street vendors, etc. They are mostly caught from jhuggi jhopri clusters where our teams are stationed to check on any such illicit activities. Most police stations have specialized cells to act on tip-offs received regarding people carrying out betting.

Delhi police official

The police officer offered some insight into how betting rackets in India operated. They argued that the illegal bookmakers would rent a room and run out their activities there. They would also used electronic devices, such as phones and computers to set up operations.

Busts have been very frequent and with the majority of them focusing on the Indian Premier League. But matters are serious as some of the money has been used to fund cross-border terrorism which has called for further scrutiny from the international community which has urged Indian authorities to act.

For their part, the police have argued that they are doing everything in their power to bust such offenders and bust the illegal betting rackets as quickly as possible.