Originally in the form of the game, betting would happen on the opening and closing rates of cotton as transmitted to the Bombay Cotton Trade from the New York Cotton Trade, through teleprinters.
In 1961, the New York Cotton Trade ceased the method, which made the punters search for new approaches to keep the matka business alive. Rattan Khatri came up with the idea of announcing the opening and closing rates of excellent products. Numbers would be composed small paper and put into a matka, a large earthen pitcher. An individual will then draw a chit and announce the lucky numbers. As the year goes, the method changed, with the goal that three numbers were being drawn from a pack of playing cards, yet maintaining the name "matka."
In 1962, Kalyanji Bhagat began the Worli matka. Rattan Khatri presented the New Worli matka in 1964, with slight alterations to the standards of the game. Kalyanji Bhagat's matka worked for all days of the week, while Rattan Khatri's matka worked just five days weekly, which is from Monday to Friday.
As at the period textile mills in Mumbai were flourishing, most of the workers in the factory played matka, bringing about bookies opening their shops in and around the factory areas, predominantly situated in Central Mumbai. Central Mumbai turned into the heart of the matka business in Mumbai.
The decades of the 1980s and 90s witnessed the matka business to its top. Betting amounts which is more than Rs. 500 crore would be paid monthly. The Mumbai police's heavy crackdown on the matka caves constrained merchants to move their base to the city's outskirts. A considerable lot of them moved to Gujarat, Rajasthan and different states. Having no primary source of betting in the city, the punters got pulled into various sources of gambling like online and zhatpat lotteries. Meanwhile, the affluent punters started to examine cricket matches betting.
In 1995 there were more than 2,000 major and medium-time bookies in the city and neighboring towns, yet from that point onward the numbers have declined significantly to under 300. Recently the average month to month turnover has stayed around Rs. 100 crore. The present-day matka business is centered on Maharashtra
