- Matka gambling or satta is a form of betting and lottery which originally involved betting on the opening and closing rates of cotton transmitted from the brand new York Cotton Exchange to the Bombay Cotton Exchange. It hails from prior to the era of Indian independence when it had been known as Ankada Jugar ("figures gambling"). In the 1960s, the machine was replaced with different ways of generating random numbers, including pulling slips from the large earthenware pot known as a matka, or dealing with playing cards.
- In 1961, the New York Cotton Exchange stopped the practice, which caused the punters to watch out for alternative ways to keep carefully the matka business alive. A Sindhi migrant from Karachi, Pakistan, Ratan Khatri introduced the thought of declaring opening and closing rates of imaginary products and playing cards. Numbers would be written on bits of paper and placed into a matka, a big earthen pitcher. One person would then draw a chit and declare the winning numbers. Over the years, the practice changed, so that three numbers were drawn from a pack of playing cards, but the name "matka" was kept.[2]
- In 1962, Kalyanji Bhagat started the Worli matka. Ratan Khatri then introduced the New Worli matka in 1964, with slight modifications to the rules of the overall game with odds which were more favourable to the public. Kalyanji Bhagat's matka ran every day of the week, whereas Ratan Khatri's matka ran only five days weekly, from Monday to Friday and later as it gained immense popularity and became synonymous along with his name, it started to be called Main Ratan matka. [3]
- The decades of 1980s and 1990s saw the matka business reach its peak. Betting volumes more than Rs. 500 crore would be laid on a monthly basis. The Mumbai Police?s massive crackdown on the matka dens forced dealers to shift their hiedouts to the city?s outskirts. https://singlejodi.net/ of them moved to Gujarat, Rajasthan along with other states. With no major way to obtain betting in the city, many punters were attracted to other forms of gambling such as online and zhatpat lotteries. Meanwhile, some rich punters began to explore betting on cricket matches.[4]
- In 1995 there were a lot more than 2,000 big and medium-time bookies in the city and neighboring towns, but since then the numbers have declined substantially to less than 300. During the 2000s, the common monthly turnover has remained around Rs. 100 crore.[2] The modern matka business is centered around Maharashtra.[citation needed]
- How to play
- To play, a gambler chooses three numbers between 0 and 9. The three chosen numbers are added together and the second digit of this resulting number is noted down alongside the original three chosen numbers. This leaves the gambler with four numbers, from which point they may bet on the many likelihoods of the numbers or number sequences appearing or being chosen from the pot.[5]
- Matka King
- The first choice of a matka gambling syndicate is called a "Matka King".
- Kalyanji Bhagat
- Kalyanji Bhagat was created a farmer in the village of Ratadia, Games Wala in Kutch, Gujarat. Kalyanji's family name was Gala and the name Bhagat, an adjustment of bhakt, was a title directed at their family by the King of Kutch because of their religiousness.
- Khatri's matka syndicate were only available in the bustling business area of Dhanji Street in Mumbadevi where idlers used to wager on the daily trickle of the fluctuating cotton rates from the brand new York market. Gradually, it became a large gambling hub as the quantum of bets and betters increased. Due to a row over an absolute number plus the New York market's five-day week schedule, compulsive betters began looking for alternatives. Using the requests of his friends, Khatri started their own syndicate and started drawing three cards to choose the day's number. Khatri used to draw three cards, twice daily at 9.00pm (the 'open') and at nighttime (the 'close'). The worthiness of the open and close cards will be totalled to arrive at an absolute number. The numbers would be relayed all across the betting hubs in the country and overseas. For a 25 paise bet the returns were at the very least Rs. 2.25 or even more. Khatri's betting was considered more genuine as the cards were reportedly opened in the current presence of patrons. During the emergency in India, Khatri was jailed and served 19 months behind bars. In the early 1990s, he retired from the gambling business and was living near Tardeo; however, he still continued to visit the Mahalaxmi Racecourse to bet on his favourite horses. [7] He died on May 9, 2020. [8]
- Terminology
- Term Meaning/Explanation
- Matka The word matka is derived from a word for an earthen pot. Such pots were used in the past to draw the numbers.
- Single Any digit between 0 and 9 which involves in betting.[clarification needed]
- Jodi/Pair Any couple of two digits between 00 and 99 involves in matka (e.g. : 52)[clarification needed]
- Patti/Panna A three digit result comes as betting result. All three digit number is patti/panna. Only limited 3 digit numbers are used.[clarification needed]
- Open result / close result The outcome of matka betting is split into two parts. The first part is called open result and the next part close result.
- SP/DP/TP SP stands for Single Patti e.g. 123, DP means Double Patti e.g. 112, and TP stands for Triple Patti e.g. 111
- Cycle Patti The last two digit of the patti is named the cycle patti or cp (e.g. if the patti is 128, the cycle patti is 28)
- Farak The Farak is how many difference from close lead to open result (e.g.if the jodi/pair is 57, 7-5; the farak is 2; some another: "73" is 13-7 - 6 )
- Berij The Berij is last digit of jodi's/pair's sum. (e.g. if pair is 76, berij is 7+6 = 13; last digit is 3; means berij is 3)