According to the bookies at the Phalodi and Bikaner betting markets, business has gone down to one-fourth as compared to what it was during the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls last year. “The punters lost a lot of money as it was expected that the BJP would win around 192 to 200 seats and it went on to win 235 seats. As a result, most people are now only playing on small bets; most limiting it to upto only a few thousands while during the UP assembly polls, we had people betting upto Rs 1crore,” said one of the bookies. He added that the loss for punters then had run into crores. The betting trends claim a victory for the BJP in Gujarat+ but a reduction in the number of seats. The betting market predicts 107 to 110 seats for the BJP while the Congress is predicted to win on 70 to 72 seats.

The Gujarat Legislative Assembly has 182 seats and in 2012, BJP won on 115 while Congress had 68+ . The trends keep changing in terms of number of seats, even when there seems to be little doubt over BJP’s victory there. The rate is 50 paisa for BJP while for Congress it is Rs 2. The trends are expected to change following the continuous rounds of public meetings by PM Narendra Modi in his home state.

Regular punters are carefully watching the day to day developments and playing it safe as yet. The market is slow and we expect a better business and may be, larger bets, only in the first week of December and then, after the voting is completed on December18,” said another bookie.
While bets are being placed over the results in Gujarat, the punters don’t seem to be interested in the Himachal Pradesh elections. “The Gujarat polls are directly linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it is his home state, hence the hustle-bustle in the betting market on it. But that is not the case with Himachal Pradesh,” said a bookie.

Source : Times Of India

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