New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal may be a hope for Congress to dent the chances of the BJP in this election, but Satta Bazar appears to have been giving him thumbs down. For Mr Kejriwal it’s 19 paisa on every 10 paisa of bet, whereas in case of Rahul Gandhi it’s 15 paisa and for Narendra Modi its 12 paisa, which makes him a clear choice of the punters.
Thus, restive allies and rebellion in the rank and file of the party may trouble BJP in the final analysis, but for gamblers, BJP and its leaders appear to be clear favourites.
After a long time, India is witnessing one of the most anticipated elections and if one goes by the odds placed by bookmakers in the illegal betting market on various parties, leaders and propositions post-elections, the BJP and Mr Modi appear to be the first choice. According to them Mr Modi is most likely to be elected as the Prime Minister and the National Democratic Alliance will be able to cross majority mark of 272 in Lok Sabha with support of future allies like J. Jayalalithaa of AIADMK and Navin Patnaik of BJD.
The Congress could end up with less than 100 seats, according to punters’ projections. Sources close to Satta Bazar said that the punters are a little more confident of the NDA reaching 272 mark.
“The worst-case scenario for the BJP seems to 200 seats with odds at paltry two paisa on a pledge of 10 paisa. The return on the money pledged, however, increases to three paisa in case the party reaches to the level of 225-235 seats,” said a source.
Sources revealed that the book-makers expected a turnover of more than Rs 60,000 crore in this election. Some betting operators also believe that BJP could form the government on its own, though surprisingly no odds are being offered in the market for this proposition.
Odds are generally offered for various possible scenarios. A punter can bet any amount on a range of scenarios and as the possibility is higher the return goes down. Thus, there is an inverse relation between odds and the chances of winning with latter declines as the former rises.
For Congress bookies are offering five paisa for the party winning 85 seats, sources said.
