FEATURE-Pakistani cricket gambling set for World Cup boom

By Robert Birsel

LAHORE, Pakistan, March 10 (Reuters) - While the best teams in the world battle for the cricket World Cup beginning on Tuesday, Pakistani police and bookies will be playing a game of cat and mouse that the bookies look sure to win.

All forms of gambling are illegal in cricket-mad, mostly Muslim Pakistan but fans are expected to wager huge amounts during the six-week World Cup that starts on March 13.

And the bookies are relishing the prospects.

"Everyone's a gambler in Lahore," said one bookie in the eastern Pakistani city.

A smartly dressed man in his early 30s, the bookie runs his operation from a small room with a telephone in a bustling city-centre side street.

Lahore police have mounted a crackdown on gambling in recent weeks, raiding 75 gambling dens and arresting 431 people, mostly for playing cards, said city police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal.

But Iqbal said far more money is bet on cricket than on the card games his men have been breaking up.

"We have to be very watchful during the World Cup. The ongoing campaign will effect their morale and their business."