'Gambling to stay in cricket, courtesy illegal Indian bookies'

Melbourne:

Gambling will continue to haunt the game of cricket if illegal bookmakers are allowed to flourish in India, says a prominent Australian sports bookmaker.

Gerard Daffy from betting agency 'Sports Alive' also feels the advent of Twenty20 cricket was particularly responsible for the rise in illegal betting activity in India. "There's rumour of thousands and thousands of illegal bookmakers in India alone. Nobody knows the transactions they do, who they deal with. Quite clearly they don't pay tax as well," Daffy said.

"This is where the problem started and it quite clearly still exists in this day and age," he was quoted as saying by the 'ABC Online'.

Daffy feels T20 format offers easy way for batsmen to get involved in the menace because of the slam-bang style of batting.

"I guess if you are a cynic on the outside looking in, it's easier to hide a poor display in Twenty20 cricket. "A player goes out to a rash shot and nobody asks any questions because that's the way the game is played. But who knows what's going on in the background?" he said.