MarcyThompson89 at 14:36, 10 April 2026

2026-04-10T14:36:13Z

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{{short description|Form of gambling}}
'''''Matka'' gambling''' or '''''satta''''' is a form of [[betting]] and [[lottery]]{{clarify|reason=All lotteries are betting. Which is it?|date=May 2023}} which originally involved{{clarify|reason = Lede changes tense mid-sentence. Does it still exist? Either way, fix it to be consistent|date=May 2023}} betting on the opening and closing rates of cotton transmitted from the [[New York Cotton Exchange]] to the [[Bombay Cotton Exchange]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/what-is-satta-matka-origin-of-matka-gambling-or-satta-2446507-2023-10-09 |title=What is Satta Matka? Origin of matka gambling or satta |website=India Today |publisher=India Today Group |date=2023-10-09 |language=en |access-date=2026-04-10}}</ref> It originates from before the [[Partition of India]] when it was known as ''Ankada Jugar'' ("figures gambling"). In the 1960s, the system was replaced with other ways of generating random numbers, including pulling slips from a large earthenware pot known as a ''[[Matki (earthen pot)|matka]]'', or dealing with playing cards.

Matka gambling is illegal in India.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Goa-BJP-MLA-Wants-Matka-Gambling-Legalized/2015/08/11/article2969103.ece | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150813214918/http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Goa-BJP-MLA-Wants-Matka-Gambling-Legalized/2015/08/11/article2969103.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 13, 2015 | title=Goa BJP MLA Wants 'Matka' Gambling Legalized | work=The New Indian Express | date=11 August 2015 | access-date=22 September 2015}}</ref>

==History==
In the original form of the game, betting would take place on the opening and closing rates of cotton as transmitted to the [[Bombay Cotton Exchange]] from the [[New York Cotton Exchange]], via [[teleprinter]]s.

In 1961, the New York Cotton Exchange stopped the practice, which caused the punters to look for alternative ways to keep the matka business alive. A [[Sindhi people|Sindhi]] migrant from Karachi, Pakistan, [[Ratan Khatri]] introduced the idea of declaring opening and closing rates of imaginary products and playing cards. Numbers would be written on pieces of paper and put into a ''matka'', a large 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.<ref name="CITEREFDNAReport2"/>

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 game with odds that 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 a week, from Monday to Friday and later as it gained immense popularity and became synonymous with his name, it began to be called [[Main Ratan]] matka.<ref name="CITEREFMidDayReport">{{cite web|last=Ranga|first=Ketan|url= http://archive.mid-day.com/news/2010/apr/130410-suresh-bhagat-slain-matka-king-witness-threatened.htm|title='Pay Rs 50 crore or Jaya stays in jail'|website=mid-day.com|date=13 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324170904/http://archive.mid-day.com/news/2010/apr/130410-suresh-bhagat-slain-matka-king-witness-threatened.htm|archive-date=24 March 2014}}</ref>

During the flourishing of textile mills in [[Mumbai]], many mill workers played matka, resulting in bookies opening their shops in and around the mill areas, predominantly located in Parel in Central Mumbai and [[Kalbadevi]] in [[South Mumbai]].

The decades of 1980s and 1990s saw the matka 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 dens forced dealers to shift their hideouts to the city’s outskirts. Many of them moved to Gujarat, Rajasthan and other states. With no major source of 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.<ref name="CITEREFCricketBettingMidDay">{{cite web|url= https://www.mid-day.com/articles/history-of-cricket-betting-in-mumbai/218837|title= Mid-Day article - History of cricket betting in Mumbai}}</ref>

In 1995 there were 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 average monthly turnover has remained around Rs. 100 crore.<ref name="CITEREFDNAReport2">{{cite web|url= http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-how-matka-business-started-1171479|title= DNA India – How Matka Business Started}}</ref> The modern matka business is centred around [[Maharashtra]].

== 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 various likelihoods of the numbers or number sequences appearing or being chosen from the pot.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-30|title=Matka Gambling in India - Review of a Classic Game|url=https://www.casinoid.in/matka-gambling-in-india-review-of-a-classic-game/|access-date=2021-04-04|website=Casinoid.in|language=en-IN}}</ref>

==Matka kings==
The leader of a matka gambling syndicate is called a "matka king".

===Kalyanji Bhagat ===
Kalyanji Bhagat was born a farmer in the village of Ratadia, Games Wala in [[Kutch]], [[Gujarat]]. Kalyanji's family name was Gala and the name ''Bhagat'', a modification of ''bhakt'', was a title given to their family by the King of Kutch for their religiousness.

He arrived as a migrant in [[Mumbai|Bombay]] in 1941 and initially did odd jobs such as ''masala ferriwala'' (spice seller) to managing a grocery store. In the 1960s, when Kalyanji Bhagat was running a grocery shop in Worli, he began the first rudimentary form of matka gambling by accepting bets based on the opening and closing rates of [[cotton]] traded on the [[New York (state)|New York]] wholesale market. He used to operate from the compound of his building Vinod Mahal, in Worli. After his death in the early 1990s, his son Suresh Bhagat eventually took over his business.<ref name="CITEREFDNAReport1">{{cite web |title=The founders of satta matka Kalyanji Bhagat and Ratan Khatri |url=https://www.shrimatka.in/article/the-founders-of-satta-matka-kalyanji-bhagat--ratan-khatri-1740037980/}}</ref>

===Ratan Khatri===
Ratan Khatri, known as the original ''Matka King'', from the early 1960s to mid-1990s controlled a nationwide illegal gambling network with international connections which involved several lakh punters and dealt with crores of rupees.

Khatri's matka syndicate started 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 New York market. Gradually, it became a big gambling hub as the quantum of bets and betters increased. Due to a row over a winning number plus the New York market's five-day week schedule, compulsive betters began looking for alternatives. Based on the requests of his friends, Khatri started his own syndicate and started drawing three cards to decide the day's number. Khatri used to draw three cards, twice daily at 9.00pm (the 'open') and at midnight (the 'close'). The value of the open and close cards would be totalled to arrive at a winning 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 least Rs. 2.25 or more.
Khatri's betting was considered more genuine as the cards were reportedly opened in the presence of patrons. During the [[The Emergency (India)|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.<ref name="From Matka King to anonymous punter">{{cite web|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/from-matka-king-to-anonymous-punter-life-s-come-a-full-circle-for-him/245717/|title= From Matka King to anonymous punter}}</ref> He died on May 9, 2020.<ref name="End of a bet-time story">{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/matka-king-ratan-khatri-dies-in-mumbai/articleshow/75660878.cms/|title= End of a bet-time story – Matka King Ratan Khatri dies in Mumbai}}</ref>

== Terminology ==
{| class="wikitable"
!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.{{clarify|date=September 2015}}
|-
|Jodi/Pair
|Any pair of two digits between 00 and 99 involves in matka (e.g. : 52){{clarify|date=September 2015}}
|-
|Patti/Panna
|A three digit result comes as betting result. All three digit number is patti/panna. Only limited 3 digit numbers are used.{{clarify|date=September 2015}}
|-
|Open result / close result
|The outcome of matka betting is divided into two parts. The first part is called ''open result '' and the second part ''close result''.
|-
|SP/DP/TP
|''SP'' stands for Single Patti e.g. 123, ''DP'' stands for Double Patti e.g. 112, and ''TP'' stands for Triple Patti e.g. 111
|-
|Cycle Patti
|The last two digit of the patti is called 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 result 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)
|}

==Influence on Bollywood==
The matka business and the lives of the matka kings also had an influence on [[Bollywood]]. [[Prem Nath]] played Ratan Khatri in the [[Feroz Khan (actor, born 1939)|Feroz Khan]] film ''[[Dharmatma]]'', which was based on the life of Khatri.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/dharmatma-1975/article4316386.ece|title= Feroze Khans' Dharmatma (1975) based on Rattan Khatri}}</ref> Khatri himself financed and even acted in the movie ''[[Rangila Ratan]]''.<ref name="CITEREFCricketBettingMidDay" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gambling in India]]

Matka gambling - Revision history

MarcyThompson89 at 14:36, 10 April 2026