MATKA – The game of Luck

MATKA – The game of Luck

The root of Matka gambling dates back to the time before independence. However, in those days it was not known as Matka. It was known as Ankada Jugar(gambling on figures i.e. digits in Gujarati).

In the early days it depended on opening and closing rates of cotton traded on New York wholesale cotton market. The punters would bet their money on these numbers and the winning number would receive a return of 9 times the sum betted. The cotton rates were quoted in three digits. Once it so happened that for days together the open and close figures turned out to be 0, thus making the gamblers and their bookies lose heavily. 

Eventually this shook the faith of the people in NY cotton figures. And thus was born the idea of gambling on indigenous open and close rates of wholesale cotton traded on Bombay's cotton exchange at Siwri (cotton exchange on harbour line). For many years Siwri cotton figures were reliably used by the betting community. Probably because of government interference, the idea of punting on Bombay cotton figures was given up in favour of Khatri's quick, clever and convenient Matka system.


== Related information ==
• The term in Bombay - "Matka lagi" signifying a windfall gain has its originations from this game of Matka.
• There is no system save two to make money on the Matka. First, one can bet on either the open or close numbers. If a bet does not pay dividends, double the bet for the same number the next day and keep doubling until the payout. One of the ten numbers does have to show up. The possibility of picking a pair and its permutations and combinations could possibly only further worsen losses.


Legality and Gambling in India


This form of gambling is not legal as gambling and bookmaking in India is considered morally wrong. As such there are only casinos in two states in India,GOA & SIKKIM. There was and has often been debate in Mumbai on the legalisation of Matka and gambling, just as horse-racing/betting has been legalised. Other than lotteries, legalised gambling in India is only limited to betting on horse-racing on the pretext of horse-racing being a "skill".

The way the game works is similar to a lottery. There are two draws of three numbers per day, these are called the opening draw and the closing draw. They are drawn at 9pm and at midnight respectively. They are drawn from a pack of cards with numbers zero to nine. So a typical draw might be 469. The numbers of the draw are added up, so it would be 19 in this case. The last number is taken and so the opening number would be 9 (as you just take the second number) so the draw would be represented like this: 469 9X.
The next draw takes place at midnight and is the closing draw, it might be 257, which would make the closing number 4 (from the 14) and the full draw would be displayed as 469 9X4 257.


People bet on all of these outcomes at various odds. People bet on the two three digit numbers. They bet on the opening and closing numbers (In this case 9 and 4). They also bet on the opening and closing number combined (In this case 94). Finally they bet on the sums of the opening and closing draws (In this case 19 and 14). So you have odds that vary from 9/1 to 999/1.