Follow UsRoyal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally won the much-anticipated maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title after a wait of 18 years, and the fans broke all barriers while celebrating the win.
Visuals of firecrackers being burst all over the nation emerged as the streets of Bengaluru remained jam-packed with fans celebrating the victory well into the early hours of June 4 morning. Not only was the city jammed, but people seemed to have forgotten roads existed for vehicles as police all across Karnataka struggled to manage the crowd that had swelled up on the road in jubilation.
However, what stunned the state machinery in Karnataka the most were the unprecedented liquor sales, which broke all records yesterday. According to official data, as many as 1.48 Lakh crates of beer were sold within 24 hours across Karnataka, and long lines were seen outside liquor stores well past midnight.
Not only beer, 1.28 Lakh crates of other varieties of liquor were also gobbled up by fans in celebration as the total liquor sales in the day shot up to a record-shattering INR 157.94 crore, which is INR 132 crore more than the same day last year.
News18 quoted an Excise department official who joked that, “This is not just RCB’s victory, it’s Karnataka’s Diwali. We’ve never seen anything like it. The entire supply chain was under pressure, but shops kept their shutters up well into the night.”
Notably, these sales will bring a substantial tax revenue to the state government, whose Deputy CM and CM are going to felicitate the RCB Team at the iconic Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on June 4.