Will the 'Bombay Main' matka finally resume its operations from Monday? Or, will this popular form of gambling surface only a fortnight later on December 5 with the ground reality still not conducive for resumption of the 'Main' matka from today.
Matka agents as well as the kingpins are keeping their fingers crossed over the resumption of the Bombay Main matka in the illegal Goan gambling market. It’s nearly 10 days since the Bombay main matka was shut down across the state following the liquidity crisis faced by the common man over demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.
While bets on the 'Kalyan' matka are still being accepted by many agents across the state, 'Bombay Main' matka is yet to come out of the 'jhatka' it received post demonetisation of the currencies.
When 'The Goan' contacted a makta operator from the commercial capital on Sunday, he virtually kept his fingers crossed over the exact date of the resumption of the 'Bombay Main' matka from Monday. “We all agents had decided to resume the operations from November 21 due to problems encountered by the bookies in tendering change and to pay the prize money. Since the ground reality has not improved till date, we are assessing the situation. If not on Monday, we will have to re-start the operations from December 5,” he said.
Another operator from neighbouring Navelim echoed similar sentiments, saying that things on the monetary front have still not improved on the ground. “We had stopped the 'Bombay Main' matka operations since a lot of cash in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were pumped into the business, but the winners were insisting on payments in the denomination of Rs 100 ony,” he recalled adding that the ground reality hasn’t improved for the better till date.
The closure of the 'Bombay Main' matka operations has hit the livelihood of hundreds of those employed by the main bookies to accept bets on their behalf. With the bookies only accepting bets on Kalyan matka, the workers are being paid only half the daily wages with the operations of the Bombay matka shut down since the last 10 days.
Workers employed by the bookies are normally paid wages in the range of Rs 300 to Rs 400 a day. However, with the 'Bombay Main' matka down and out for the moment, information revealed that workers have been receiving only half the wages in lieu of putting in only half day's work.
