Chennai’s link to betting in the game of cricket could be news to everyone. But in the city it is nothing new when it comes to betting in other forms.
For years, Mankatha a game of cards, has been popular in the betting scene. Two players try to place cards to match the one already kept at the beginning of the game. They bet anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000. Apart from the player on the gamble, there would at least be two to six persons betting on the players.
Suresh has taken a liking for betting on players, right from his school days after witnessing his grandfather and father making hundreds of rupees every day. “I tried to bet by playing Mankatha but I was never lucky. So I started betting on players and it worked. I can make a minimum of `600 in one game,” he says.
Then there is also the game of ‘rummy’ that is played with 11 or 13 cards. Players anywhere between two and six join the game. While there are those that bet only on money, there are a few wild betters that go to the extent of betting on gold ornaments and utensils.
Regular betters in New Washermenpet recall ‘Club’ Sekar, who lived on his ‘luck’ and minted money in betting on players as well as placing bets for his own game in clubs decades ago.
After the police shutdown those clubs, Sekar began his downfall when he started to bet on small games held in street corners with his wife’s gold ornaments, utensils at home and even his property documents.
“He did nothing but betting and his obsession to bet on players and for his games ruined his family. He even bet on his wife’s thali. He became a drunkard after he lost everything and died,” says Vijay, one of Sekar’s relatives.
Police say there were many clubs across the city years ago, where betting on a game of cards happened regularly. Today, games and betting takes place in isolated places near bushes, open grounds or near railway tracks. “Rummy is not gambling as long as it is not a game of chance and money is not involved. There were three popular clubs in MKB Nagar and we conducted continuous raids before they were permanently shut. Now, we catch hold of gamblers and betters during night patrolling or if we get complaints,” says a police official.
Apart from the game of cards that is still popular among Chennaiites, there are some other forms of games that involved betting but are no longer existent. “There are other games played with die rolled in a container called langa kattai and with tape called naada in North Chennai that are no longer played. There was a time when school children played the game of dial which is similar to poker.
Children bet with a minimum of `2 and get double the money if the arrow points out the number in the rotating dial mentioned by the player,” says a police official.
Cockfight was also one of the games that was popular in the city decades ago. Placing bets in hundreds depending on the affordability of the player, the game is played. Here again, betters who witness the game place bet on their favourite cock in the fight. “The cockfight is similar to that of how bets are placed in horseracing which is a legal form of betting,” a police official adds.
Police say that betting in online casinos are also becoming increasingly popular in the city but that is limited to the rich as the bets are high and risky.