Ranchi, Sept. 19: ?Yeh beimaani ka dhandha hai magar imaandaari iska usool hai? (This is no doubt an illegal business but honesty is the guiding principle of the trade), says Kallu, while pointing out the paradox of ?matka?, an illegal gambling operation thriving in the state. The operation is conducted largely by word of mouth or, at best, a small slip of paper. But commitments are honoured without fail and crores of rupees change hands every day without any beimaani (dishonesty). The business of illegal gambling is booming in the state.

Kallu is what the trade calls a ?penciller? or, simply, a bookie. He is the one who collects the money gamblers bet with and writes down the three numbers, in various permutation and combinations, that each one of them predict would be declared at the end of the day. Kallu is also the one who disburses the money to the successful gamblers and takes care of troublesome losers. He reports to the wakravala, who is supposed to be the agent who is working for different gambling syndicates. It is the wakravala, who gets to know the day?s winning numbers directly from the syndicate and communicates them to the pencillers. He also handles the cash and keeps the account. Each syndicate apparently has four or five wakravalas working for them in the state capital and has five to 15 pencillers.

Kallu works for the Bhootnath syndicate, controlled from Burrabazaar in Calcutta. There is also the ?Phataphat? syndicate, said to be operating from Goa. There is another syndicate based at Worli in Mumbai, confided agents, while there is a ?Shakti? syndicate operating from Kalabagan in Calcutta, they said.

If gamblers hit the jackpot, a bet of just 50 paise can fetch Rs 400 at the end of the day, with no questions asked and with no taxes to be paid. Little wonder that ?matka? continues to attract people ranging from the rickshawpullers to the filthy rich. There are businessmen in Upper Bazaar, confide agents, who do not mind betting five to ten thousand rupees every day. There are hundreds of people, perfectly respectable professionals, they claimed, who bet once or twice every week and pledge anything between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. One of them this correspondent was introduced to claimed to have ?won? a cool Rs 45,000 on a particularly lucky week.