Bigg Loss: Punters betting on Rahul lose Rs 150 cr

Rahul Mahajan’s sudden exit from Bigg Boss 2 may have cost him Rs 1 crore, but it has also left punters across the country high and dry.

Owing to his exit from the show on November 18, punters across India saw a whopping Rs 150 crore go down the drain.

Mahajan was touted by many to win the reality show on Colors channel. According to data from television audience measurement agency Audience Map (aMap), TRP ratings for the show also soared to a high of 1.9 (C&S 4+ years audience in North, West, East Hindi speaking market) on the day of his exit.

The show has been a big hit with punters alongside cricket matches. Sources in the betting circuit say that while Rahul Mahajan was the favourite with Rs 150 crore riding on him across betting centres like Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Rest of India; other contestants like Raja Chaudhary (about Rs 90 crore), Ashutosh Kaushik (about Rs 70 crore) and Zulfi Syed (about Rs 30 crore) were also eagerly betted upon.

These figures are set to change now that Mahajan is out of the show. “The show has now been thrown open in a sense. It’s anybody’s game from here,” says a Delhi-based punter.

While Mumbai and Delhi are the betting hotbeds, there have been surprises from territories like UP and Bihar where punters bet heavily on Ashutosh Kaushik and Raja Chaudhary, respectively. “There is a lot of excitement around the show. After all, punters only go where there is huge public interest,” says media planners.

Mudra Max president Chandradeep Mitra. “The humungous betting amount is a sign of surrogate consumer involvement.” Agrees Lintas Media Group COO & joint president Sudha Natarajan: “The fact that they have taken newsmakers has generated tremendous excitement around the show.