Bookies have Rs 47,000 crores riding on IPL 6

This amount includes the betting between bookies and also the money spent on spot-fixing. The average amount spent on each IPL game is between Rs 600 crores and Rs 800 crores.

For the semi-finals and the final the amount could well cross Rs 1,200 crores, reports Vicky Nanjappa.

The stakes in this year's Indian Premier League have shot up to a staggering Rs 47,000 crore/Rs 470 billion, up from last year's figure of Rs 43,000 crore/Rs 430 billion.

This is an estimate drawn up by various security agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau, tracking the betting in IPL games.

The amount includes the betting between bookies and the money spent on spot-fixing.

The estimate states that the average amount spent betting on each IPL game is between Rs 600 crores (Rs 6 billion) and Rs 800 crores (Rs 8 billion).

For the semi-finals and the final the amount could well cross Rs 1,200 crores/Rs 12 billion.

Dropped catches which turn the tide in the match, games which go into super overs, and blatant no balls are some forms of spot-fixing and under scrutiny.

It is not known yet if the three cricketers who have been arrested -- S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandilya and Ankeet Chavan -- were involved in spot-fixing relating to their own team, the Rajasthan Royals, or if they persuaded members of other IPL teams to go along.

According to the Delhi police, the betting this year has gone up many fold in New Delhi and Kolkata.

The betting lobby set up shop in Kolkata after the Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL last year and there was heavy betting on KKR games this season.

KKR's awful performance in IPL 6 -- the team is currently ranked third from the bottom -- has resulted in a loss of Rs 8,000 crores/Rs 80 billion for bookies in Kolkata alone.

The same is the case in Delhi where bookies suffered a loss of Rs 10,000 crore/Rs 100 billion in the initial part of IPL 6.

When the losses mount, bookies usually rope in cricketers for spot-fixing.

S Sreesanth, left, foreground, at a pre-IPL6 event