A person who has lived in Mumbai in the 1970s to 1990s would surely have heard the names, Ratan Khatri and Kalyanji Bhagat. They were famous (shall we call them notorious) for running one of the biggest lotteries in the city. This was in fact a type of gambling by the name of Satta Matka.

A game of choice

The mill workers in Mumbai used to try their hands at this game. This is a game of pure chance. There is no skill involved. It is a game of numbers. If you are lucky enough to win, you could get up to multiple times your initial investment. The person who wins this jackpot is the Satta King.

The rules of the game

Let us see how to play this game. A player has to purchase two tickets to participate in the game. The first ticket envisages him choosing three numbers at random between 0 and 9. The next step is to add these numbers and ignore the tens digit while taking cognizance of the units digit. This gives him 4 numbers in a set. Similarly, he has to choose another 3 numbers for his second set. The same procedure is applied in this case as well. Hence, you end up with 8 numbers.

Example:

You choose 0, 2, and 6 in your first set and 3, 4, and 1 in your second set. Your eight-number sequence will be 0-2-6-8-3-4-1-8. The Matka King declares the winning combination by drawing lots. In the olden days, they used to take out these numbers from a pot. A pot literally translates to Matka in Hindi. Hence, you get the name Satta Matka for this game.

Result

The first number is usually drawn at 9.00 pm every night. The second and third numbers are drawn after a couple of hours. The result is transmitted throughout the country within no time. The first number is the open number and the second one is the close number. You have the combination of the two known as the Jodi number.

What do you win?

If the open number matches with your sequence, you get 9 times the amount you have invested. The close number fetches you another 8 times your investment whereas the Jodi Number gets you 48 times the investment. The chances of winning the entire sequence are negligible.

Your share of the winnings:

You have to place your bets through a bookie or an agent. The universal rules are that the bookie or the agent gets a commission of 5% on every number that wins. If your number does not win, you need not pay him anything. However, some bookies try to cheat new entrants to the game by demanding 10%. Naturally, one cannot argue with them because they have the backing of the underworld dons. Therefore, you are literally playing with fire when you invest your money in the Matka.

There are chances of manipulation today as well. It was prevalent in the olden days. There are instances of bookies vanishing especially when there are several winners. The chances of having several winners are next to impossible.  

Sarah Clark