Jesuin George fernandes
Arthritis ridden knees often keep Maria Lourdina De Costa (aka Ludin) away from Sunday church, but it can’t prevent her from trudging to the local village market twice a day to play matka.
The other day she was on her way home when I stopped to offer her a lift and she was immensely grateful.
“Dev borem kor baba” she expressed gratitude even as she got inside the car and sat quietly.
“Aiz kit ailo?” I started with the typical conversation-starter among matka punters. Ludin was taken aback, but she recovered and her shock and embarrassment turned to amusement. “Tuk khon sangil re..?” she demanded to know who had told me about her secret affair with matka, perhaps suspecting a family member. I pacified Ludin by claiming to have ‘CIDs’ all over the place!
I can take liberties with this elderly lady as she is a family friend whom I have know since childhood. And so I ask Ludin whether there is profit in playing matka.
“Khedpa kodlear mure Baba, zaito faido aha” (there is good profit if one knows to play) said a brightened up Ludin, in a tone that people normally reserve for letting out a trade secret.
A childless widow, Ludin is supported by her many nephews and nieces. Most of them have stopped giving her cash because of her gambling habits, preferring instead to settle the monthly bills that she runs up here and there. As we reached her house I gently opened the door for Ludin to alight without daring to ask what she does with all her profits. In a way I was happy for her; happy that the old lady has something to look forward to at the end of the day!
Needless to say, matka and for that matter, all form of gambling activities are designed to enrich the operators “ for profits one may as well as pursue the art of changing ordinary metals to gold.
Leaving aside the ‘beginners luck’, gambling in the long run always leave the gamblers shirtless. Gambling addicts may not be fools, but they love to live in a fools paradise! They are subconsciously programmed to forget the outgoings but distinctly remember the incomings “ a rupee won is twice as sweet as a rupee earned!
WHO has recognised gambling addiction as a disease, but when we hear the word “addiction” our mind usually goes straight to alcohol and drugs; often forgetting that a person can get hooked to gambling with as much disastrous effects.
Seventeen years ago when the first casino ship M V Caravela moored into the inland waters of the Mandovi, many people had expressed fears of Goa turning into a gambling capital of India. The gambling industry has since taken deep roots to become an ‘inevitable’ part of the State’s economy. The mass marketing efforts, the daily attractions, are all in the face “ you don’t even have to open the morning newspapers!
The government talks about regulating and controlling the gambling industry but it’s rather difficult to say as to who is actually controlling whom. There is not even a gaming authority in place. The gambling industry is not a stand-alone industry and if allowed to run amok like the mining industry did some years back, the social consequences could be disastrous!
Most gambling addiction stories have an innocent start: the first visit out of curiosity, the second trip because you haven’t seen enough, followed by more trips ... And before you know it, many are on hooked! Nobody should expect the government to try putting the genie back in the bottle, but Goa can and should learn from gambling destinations like Macau and try to minimize the social and environmental costs.
A Portuguese enclave for 442 years until it was returned to China in 2019, Macau today is a specially administered region. Gaming has been legal here since long but when Macau liberalized its casino industry to allow foreign investment, the region’s economy has leapfrogged to make Macau one of the richest economies in the world on a per capita basis. Macau is also very high on the Human Development Index with the fourth highest life expectancy. Most residents in Macau are either employed directly in the gambling industry or in sectors that are dependent on it. The revenue generated by Macau’s gambling industry is about three times that of Las Vegas!
The boom that has brought prosperity to Macau also changed its face forever! The concerns of gambling addiction among residents looms large. The rate of school dropouts is increasing every year. The manufacturing & Export Industry that in 1985 constituted 37% of Macau’s GDP is as good as dead.
Sikkim, the second Indian State to open its doors to casinos in 2007, amended the rules in 2016 to ban entry to locals.
The Goa government should ban elected representatives like MLAs, MPs, councillors, panchas and all those having access to the public treasury from entering casinos.
“If you don’t gamble, you don’t know how lucky you are!” says an old Chinese proverb.
Probably the Chinese have a wiser interpretation of their proverbs and accordingly don’t allow casinos on their territory.
