Lahore: Betting culture thrives in City over decades

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Salman Aslam
A GROUP of people is carrying a body to the graveyard, some of them are wailing and some sober. But there are also a number of onlookers. They do not know anything about the individual soon to be lowered into the grave. They are simply there alongside the funeral cortege, whispering constantly to each other, betting whether the dead person is a man or a woman.

Bets are placed on all kinds of matters, ranging from cricket matches to routine events. At present, betting craze in the City is so marked that people are even gambling on what the weather will be like the next day.

Betting is deeply ingrained in the heart of Lahorites. It seems to exist at every level, and its effects are sometimes seen openly, as in the terrible incident of arson at Sherakot some years ago, which killed six members of a family, including women and children. The motive of the crime was to avoid payment on a betting debt.

Poor people are addicted to gambling. They are pulled by the lure to get rich quick. They are also the people who can least afford to lose money. It is believed that 40 per cent of the city’s population was heading towards financial ruin as a result of direct or indirect involvement in gambling, betting and lotteries. The menace was so widespread in several localities that it strengthened the general opinion of active police connivance at various levels.

Gambling is a double-edged sword. Some people gamble for fun and in that case gambling is a recreation and helps them relax after work. But once someone has become an addict, the consequences could be immeasurable. There are number of incidents where many family break-ups, murders, and other crimes are caused by gambling.

It appears unemployment, recession and a sense of aimlessness among young people has promoted the culture of betting. For some, it becomes virtually an addiction. Others see in it a hope of escaping the many worries of their daily life and become rich overnight.

The betting culture of Lahore dates back to the creation of Pakistan. ‘Kamsai’ (a game played with a pair of dice) has been popular with many over the past five decades. It reached its peak during the mid-1960s, with two dens in Yakki Gate gaining widespread notoriety. A fierce rivalry between individuals running the two dens in fact led to a violent vendetta which saw many of their family members and accomplices die. Similarly, the two sons of the owner of a notorious den in Shahi Mohalla were killed over gambling disputes.

During the 1970s, a number of well-established dens appeared on Beadon Road, Nawankot and Rajgarh, while a notorious den at Shah Abualmali has survived through the decades, and continues to flourish.

Another favourite gambling game, again involving a dice, is ‘Ghori’. The game is popular mainly among the rich gamblers who gather for the game at hotels and bungalows where it is not easy for police to raid. The places of the gatherings are regularly changed to avoid any problems, while the game, which took root essentially in the 1980s, is also popular at various dens in the City.

During the decades following 1947, most betting took place on cards, horses or ‘Kumsai’. Gambling dens were in fact a favourite place for police to track down those engaged in various illegal activities.

A well-known establishment at Beadon Road remained notorious for many years as one of the best known gambling spots in the city. Gamblers deposited money there to play for high stakes, and they were issued cards to receive payments if they won.

But today, the betting culture has spread well beyond these spots. There are literally thousands of points in the City where it is possible to lay a bet on cricket matches and horse races.

Until the Cricket World Cup of 1992, there were only a handful of people who bet on matches. Majority of them belonged to well-off families. But during the 1990s, gambling on cricket took off in a big way. The 1996 World Cup is said to have seen a record of betting, with very large stakes in a number of cases.

There are also other popular traditional forms of gambling which remain very much in vogue, like ‘Ghara’ (in which numbers from 1 to 100 are issued), horse races, cock fights, dog fights, and pigeon racing (Kabutarbazi). All of them are especially popular in the inner parts of the City.

Bets on cricket matches are among the safest forms of gambling today, and gamblers term this activity similar to shares business, due to the fluctuation in rates, much like the regular falls and rises of the stocks business. Rates in cricket matches alter rapidly, changing with every sudden development in the game—-and bookies have to keep pace with the changes as they fix the rates.

A young, who by a stroke of good fortune won a large amount in the Cricket World Cup 1996, said “this is the only business you can engage in without any fear of police - notorious for minting money from gamblers.”

“Most of the bets are taken over the telephone, so police could not round up bookies on charges of gambling. The main bookies in fact run their business as a chain, and rates are floated from England to Dubai and Bombay, and from there to Karachi and on to Lahore. Local bookies float the rates keeping a margin for themselves ranging between one paisa to five paisa, which enables them to make millions of rupees,” he said.

Fortune tellers enjoy great importance in the eyes of gamblers who bet on cricket matches, and also for those who regularly purchase prize bonds. Similarly, there are tens of thousands of people, including rickshaw drivers, labourers, fruit vendors, street hawkers and unemployed youngsters who bet on numbers (‘Ghara’) and in many cases rely on Pirs, or even the insane, for a ‘tip’ which may lead them to wealth.

For instance, ‘Tit Bit’, as he is commonly known, is a resident of Mozang, who after listening to abuses of a ‘malang’ determines their meaning in order to decide how to bet. He is known for the good fortune which often comes his way.

A compulsive gambler who spends much of his time gambling at the Race Club and other places said, “I earned a lot but gambled away all my money placing bets on horses, cards and cricket matches. Once I was arrested while gambling on cards and police not only got a handsome amount from me as bribe, but also gave me a good thrashing. Now I bet on cricket matches because you can place and take bets even at a busy place or a city chowk without any fear”.

There are many who have lost entire fortunes to gambling. Thousands of people have in fact made the gambling business a full time source of livelihood, using it to run their households.

A gambler said: “Working helps you become a master and gambling helps you become a beggar”.

Getting money from gambling dens is a traditional source of income for Lahore police, and money thus received is said to be shared by officials. To open a new gambling den and to make an old one operational, the SHO’s permission is necessary as without his consent running the business is virtually impossible.

Sometime transfers of SHOs not only affect the gambling business, but also prove profitable for the den owners as well as the SHOs and his staff.

Gamblers having connections with political figures or police officers avoid humiliation, while without such contacts have to face humiliation as the policemen usually strip them in the presence of their companions and deliver five whiplashes called ‘panja’.

Betting rackets in Lahore are turning out to be the best source to earn money for officials of Lahore police. In the City, betting mainly revolves around localised dices gambling game - Kamsai- and the playing cards.

No less than five gambling dens are only being run in the jurisdiction of Gawalmandi police station. The dens are owned by Shafqat alias Janggi in front of Diyal Singh College, Munna Hakowala at Chowk Gunda Engine, Asif, son of Paija Kasaee, at Kucha Nisbat Road, Mullah, son of Teefa, at Chowk Shah Abdu Mali, Munna Chirrianwala at Krishna Gallian, Dako Saeen and Ishfaq and Pallo near Diyal Singh College.

Ironically, area police are blind and deaf to these gambling dens being operated with alacrity, reasons best know to the SHO or supervisory officers.

When contacted a senior police officer said that Lahore police were taking strict action against owners of gambling dens and no less than 736 cases had been registered and 2,153 gamblers arrested by police from January 1 to August 15, 2008. Police also recovered Rs 4641,814 stake money, he added.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=133175