Every four years, during or after the World Cup, there is some breathless report of an "unprecedented" police raid on Asian illegal bookmaking operations.Reported By A Pakistan times
Now, yet another one is being announced in the world's press
One should not take them too seriously. It is not that individual policemen are necessarily corrupt, but it does mean that, overall, an elaborate game is being played out for everyone's benefit. Here is how it works.
The best way to understand much of the Asian gambling market is to think of prohibition-era America.
In that time, a significant part of the US population was doing something that the government had declared illegal - drinking alcohol.
So an enormous illegal industry grew up that corrupted many of the United States institutions and laid the foundation for the strength of its organised crime.
A similar situation exists today in many Asian countries: a large segment of the population wants to gamble; the governments say that they cannot.
sources: www.bbc.co.uk
