'Matka King' Ratan Khatri passes away in Mumbai at 88

Ratan Khatri, a betting legend in India, passed away in Mumbai on Saturday at the age of 88. According to sources, Khatri, who had been suffering from age-related illnesses for a long time now, breathed his last at his own residence in the Navjeevan Society of the Mumbai Central area.

Born in a Sindhi family in Karachi, present-day Pakistan, Ratan Khatri was only a young man when he had come to Bombay after the Partition of India in 1947. Later he went on to be considered as one of the pioneers of betting in India.

Khatri was named 'Matka King' because he popularised 'matka' (a form of gambling that originated in Mumbai in 1962) across the gambling season in the city and gradually established it into India's biggest nation-wide gambling tacket that lasted for decades under his control. 'Matka King' then on became one of the most popular gamblers in the country of his time and there was his own gambling kingdom to rule over.

In Matka, the betting was done on the opening and closing rates of cotton transmitted from the New York Cotton Exchange. It was popular across all sections of the contemporary Mumbai society in the 1960s.

Khatri initially worked as a manager with Kalyanji Bhagat, when the latter launched the Worli Matka. Eventually, however, their paths separated and Ratan Khatri later started the 'Ratan Matka', which involved drawing lots from chits in a pot. It is said to have been a money-spinner with the daily turnover from gambling touching Rs. one crore.