Satta or Matka gambling is a type of lottery and betting that saw individuals placing bets on the opening and closing cotton rates that were transferred to the Bombay Cotton Exchange from the New York Cotton Exchange. This type of gambling game was played prior to the independence of India, and it was called “Ankada Jugar” at that time. By Ankada Jugar, we actually refer to gambling. Other methods of generating random numbers finally replaced this system during the 60s which consisted of drawing chits of paper from a Matka (a big-sized earthen pot) or dealing with some playing cards.
Satta Matka is considered to be a comprehensive lottery game that was introduced in the 50s following the independence of India. At that time its name was Ankada Jugar. Even though it was drastically modified over time, the name Matka was still there. The contemporary Matka gambling game is actually based on the selection of numbers at random and betting.
The history of Satta Matka
The initial form of this gambling game took place on the opening plus closing rates of cotton which was conveyed to the Bombay Cotton Exchange with the help of teleprinters.
However, this practice came to an end with the intervention of the New York Cotton Exchange. At that time, the gamblers tried to keep the business alive by searching for alternative ways. A Pakistani migrant introduced the concept of declaring the closing and opening rates of imaginary objects as well as playing cards. Numbers are going to be written on paper before they were placed in the Matka (an earthen pitcher). One person would pull out a chit from the pitcher and read aloud the lucky number. The practice was modified over the course of time, and even though the name Matka continued to be there, 3 numbers would be drawn from some playing cards.
Quite a few textile mill workers in the city of Mumbai were playing Matka at that time, and lots of bookies popped up in and around the textile mill areas, mainly located in Kalbadevi in South Mumbai and Parel in Central Mumbai.
The Matka business became quite well-known during the 80s and 90s. In fact, betting would be placed over Rs. 500 crores every single month. The dealers were forced to move to the city suburbs due to the massive crackdown of the cops on the Matka dens. A few of them shifted to other states such as Rajasthan and Gujarat. At that time lots of punters became attracted to other types of online gambling as well as zhatpat lotteries. In the meantime, several affluent punters started betting on international cricket matches as well.
The practice was halted by the New York Cotton Exchange in 1961, and this prompted the gamblers to search for substitute ways for keeping the gambling activity still alive.
At present, offline gambling is deemed to be illegal in the country since it involved cash and does not require any skill. On the other hand, online gambling on reputed sites providing games like Madhur Matka is not prohibited in India and one can play them for the sake of fun as well.