IPL's Betting Rush Is Straining Banks

TO PURISTS AND pundits, the Indian Premier League (IPL) may be more glitz than cricket. But it's serious business for the nation's richest tycoon—and an operational nightmare for banks.

- Bloomberg

Mukesh Ambani is offering advertisers brain-mapping studies of how audiences behave during an IPL match to garner the most revenue for the billions of dollars his conglomerate has spent to stream and broadcast the country's most-beloved sport, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, banks are doing a different kind of analysis: They're trying to map the money flow.

The IPL is a major catalyst for annual Indian gambling demand in excess of $100 billion, according to analysts. Online bookmakers located overseas provide illegal access to residents via cryptocurrencies. They also use mule accounts in the local banking system. The legitimate gambling industry, which pays domestic taxes and caters to customers with rupee-denominated bank deposits, is smaller, but it's growing fast.