HYDERABAD: A man saunters to a paan shop and buys a pack of cigarettes. But there is much more than just cigarettes in the pack. Hidden inside are the details of the betting rates for the Tuesday's World Cup match between India and Ireland.

And this isn't the story at just one shop. Cricket betting has taken an all new avatar at countless such kiosks in the city.

Gone are the days when betting on cricket matches was carried out from the rooms of five-star hotels or from duplexes in posh colonies of the city as times have changed and so has the style of betting.

Paan shops of the city are the new hubs of this organised crime where transactions running into crores of rupees take place right under the nose of the law enforcement authorities.

Though not a crunch game, betting was pretty high for the India-Ireland World Cup game on Tuesday. Dozens of people kept coming to a particular paan shop in Dhoolpet. The odds clearly favoured India, who won four games on the trot. The stakes were: 1/5 in for an Ireland win, 1/2 for an India win.

But these were just the numbers in the beginning. Every six overs, the punter at the shop got a call from his overlord with instructions on the new stakes, purely based on the match situation. Bets are also placed on various other aspects like individual performances, over-by-over score and even the toss and the decision that follows it.

On every match day, betting runs into crores of rupees. But not a single rupee of it comes to the paan shop. The entire process starts with a minimum bet of Rs 10,000. "We have our regulars who place bets on every game. They have a joint account with me and in order to start betting for the game, they have to deposit a minimum of Rs 10,000 in the account. Then they can either come down to the shop or place their bet via a phone call," said Arun (name changed), the owner of a shop.

However, if you are betting for the first time, you will not get a bank account. "You just cannot walk up to my shop and start betting. It has to happen through a proper channel," Arun explains. For a first timer to start betting, a regular has to recommend his name, which is followed by a background check to ensure that he is not from a law enforcement body.

If the wannabe punter's background is 'satisfactory', the new comer can place his bets through the account of the person who initiates him into the betting circle.

On Tuesday, as the game progressed, phone kept ringing incessantly informing Arun about the changes in the bet as he made a note of them in a huge register, which looks pretty normal at any small shop. Arun also kept track of the accounts that had lost all their money and warned them about their low balance, to which more money was added.

"It's all about money. I earn about the same amount in one game that I would otherwise earn in a year through my business," he said.

The number of such shops in the city is over 30, largely in Dhoolpet and Begum Bazar. While the cops are aware of this, the fact that it happens at dozens of paan shops in the city makes it very difficult for them to curb the menace.