Date:13/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/13/stories/2006051329400300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Law & Order

Though the police have been arresting people on charges of gambling, they have not booked any person under the Goonda Act so far, writes K.V. Subramanya

Checking the gambling menace

THOUGH VARIOUS forms of gambling, particularly single-digit lottery and matka, have been thriving in the city, the police have hardly enforced the stringent Karnataka (Prevention of) Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum Grabbers Act, 1985, commonly known the Goonda Act, to check the menace.

Of the various laws that are in force, the Goonda Act is said to be the most severe the police can invoke against anti-social elements, particularly those with a long criminal history.

After the State Government banned the single digit lottery a few years ago and one-line lotteries subsequently, the single -igit lottery in the guise of two-digit lottery, matka and betting on skill games and video games are flourishing in several areas of the city.

Though the police have been conducting raids and arresting people on charges of gambling, they have not booked any person under the Goonda Act so far. A few months ago, the then Minister for Small Saving and Lotteries Basavaraj Horatti held a high-level meeting of officials from the Home and Finance departments and discussed steps to check the increasing lottery menace.

According to a senior police official, it was decided at the meeting to book all those running illegal gambling rackets under the Goonda Act. But many senior police officials working in the city, and also those who had served here earlier, are unable to explain the reasons for the police not booking gamblers under the Goonda Act, which is in force for over 20 years.

Commissioner of Police Ajai Kumar Singh says that the detailed documentation and also recording the person's previous such history could probably be the reason for one not being booked under the Goonda Act. He says that the situation is the same all over the State and Bangalore is not an exception.

However, Mr. Singh contends that at present gambling are not thriving in the city, compelling the police to invoke the Goonda Act.

Some police officials say the traditional matka is now on the decline as bookies have started a new form of matka.

Matka is a form of gambling where the punters place bets on two numbers, called "open" and "close." If they get both the numbers correct, they win 80 times the bet. If they get one number right, they are paid eight times the bet. The matka draws are held in Mumbai and, the results are communicated to the agents here.

However, those running lottery centres in the city are conducting their own unauthorised lottery draws on the lines of matka. They take bets on the last two numbers of the Karnataka State lottery tickets, for which hourly draws are held. Those who have got both the numbers correct are paid 80 times the bets they had placed, the police say.