Ratan Khatri passes away: Five lesser-known facts about India’s ‘Matka King’
Ratan Khatri, dubbed as one of many pioneers of betting in India, handed away on the age of 88 on Saturday after a short sickness at his home situated in Mumbai Central’s Navjeevan space. He remodeled Matka, a type of playing that originated in Mumbai in 1962, into the nation’s largest betting racket and managed it for a number of a long time.
Listed below are 5 lesser-known information concerning the now-deceased ‘Matka King’:
1. Khatri was born in Karachi, British India
Khatri was born to a Sindhi household in Karachi, British India. He, alongside along with his household, got here to Mumbai through the partition in 1947. He was an adolescent at the moment.
2. Karachi boy turns into India's ‘Matka King’
Khatri started his Matka stint in Mumbaidevi’s Dhanji Road the place folks used to wager on the opening and shutting charges of cotton from the New York Cotton Alternate Market. Steadily, the market grew as extra bets and betters poured in. Later, as a consequence of a battle over declaration of a profitable quantity and New York Cotton Alternate Market’s five-day schedule in every week, betters began on the lookout for different choices. After receiving a number of requests from buddies, Khatri launched his personal syndicate for betting. Betters thought of his syndicate to be extra real as he drew chit/ card from matka (pot) in a patron’s presence for deciding the day’s quantity. Later, his unlawful betting community unfold past Mumbai to your entire nation and he managed it for a number of years.
3. Khatri was jailed throughout emergency
Throughout the 21-month interval of emergency proclaimed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, Khatri was arrested and put behind the bars. Reportedly, he served out 19 months in jail.
4. Khatri’s Bollywood connection
Khatri co-produced Bollywood movie Rangeela Ratan with Ramchanchandra Bhikubhai. Other than financing the movie, he had additionally acted in it. Actor Prem Nath’s character in 1975 Bollywood thriller Dharmatma was primarily based on Khatri, who additionally helped in writing the script and dialogues of the movie.
5. Betting on horses post-retirement
Even after taking retirement from “Matka’ playing enterprise, Khatri’s betting stint continued. He used to position bets on his favorite horses in Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Racecourse.
