Matka Gambling: A Lottery Game

Matka gambling is a popular form of lottery game in India which originally involved betting on the opening and closing rates of cotton transmitted from the New York cotton exchange. It originates from before the era of Indian independence (15th August 1947) when it was known as Ankada Jugar. In the 60’s era ’60s, the system was replaced with other ways of generating random numbers, including pulling slips from a large earthenware pot known as a matka or dealing with playing cards.

HISTORY-

In the original form of gambling, betting would take place on the opening and closing rates of cotton as transmitted to the Bombay Cotton Exchange from the NY Cotton Exchange via teleprinters.

In 1961, the NY cotton exchange stopped the practice, which caused the punters to look for alternative ways to keep the matka business alive. Rattan Khatri has introduced the idea of declaring the opening and closing rates of imaginary products. Numbers would be written on paper pieces and put into a larger earthen matka. One person would then draw a chit from that and declare the winning numbers. Over the few years, the practice changed, so that three numbers of Satta Matka were drawn from a pack of playing cards, but the name ‘Matka’ was kept.

In 1962, Kalyan Bhagat started the Worli Matka game. Rattan Khatri introduced the New Worli in the year 1964, with slight modifications to the rules of the Worli Matka game. Kalyan Bhagat’s Matka ran for all days of the week, where Khatri’s Matka ran only five days a week, from Monday to Friday.

During the development of textile mills in Mumbai, many traders & workers played Satta Matka, resulting in bookies opening their shops in and around the mill areas, predominantly located in Central Mumbai.

The decades of the 1980’s and 1990s saw the gambling business reach its peak. Betting volumes in excess of Rs. 500 crore would be laid every month. The Mumbai Police’s massive crackdown on the Matka game forced dealers to shift their base to the city’s outskirts. Many of them shifted to Rajkot, Rajasthan and other states. With no major source of betting in Mumbai, the punters got attracted to other sources of gambling such as online lotteries, casinos and more. Meanwhile, the rich players began to place bets on cricket matches.

In addition, a person who has won a great amount of money in Satta Matka gambling is known as ‘Matka King’.

Article source: https://article-realm.com/article/Finance/4617-Matka-Gambling-A-Lottery-Game.html