Game’s up as cops deal city card clubs a bad hand
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Highlights
- Clubs that conduct high-stake Rummy games have been sealed
- Over 500 clubs asked to shut shop, clubs say they have licences, but police insist they breed illegal activities
By Ikram Khan
The big card players of the city are hopping mad. Club owners are crying foul and the begums and ranis, who host the many kitty parties, are livid that the police have sealed all private card clubs that conduct high-stakeRummy games in the city.
More than 500 clubs in the city, including the 30 big ones in Majestic and a couple in Mahatma Gandhi Road area that play host to the big card gamblers, have been shut down.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar told Bangalore Mirror that the objective was to crack down on all illegal activities in the city. The top cop added that it has been brought to the notice of the police that rowdy sheeters and criminals congregate at dance bars and card gambling centres and that often leads to drunken brawls and fatal street fights. Alok Kumar also pointed out that many clubs are situated in residential areas and the residents have lodged complaints about disturbance.
The club owners, in response, question the police action, pointing out that they had obtained the required licences to operate the club and all the registered clubs are following the guidelines. “We only conduct Rummy games and no “Teen Patti or Andar-Bahar” games are conducted in the clubs. Rummy games are played by the members at all the big clubs like Bowring Institute andBangalore Club too. Why target only our clubs?” asked a top club owner from Majestic area.
The police disclosed that all recreational clubs have been granted licences to operate card tables on the condition that they also provide sport-and-leisure facilities. A reading room, atable tennis hall and a badminton court is a must. But most of the clubs that have obtained licences are only operating card tables, which confirms that they have not followed the norms and are illegal.
“The big recreational clubs have all the sports and leisure facilities, including swimming pools and they are all following the rules and regulations and that’s the reason we have not initiated action against them,” pointed out a police officer.
Many staff members working in the clubs disclosed that it is the daily wage workers who are hit hard by the police crackdown.
“More than 10,000 daily wage earners have lost their jobs. Helpers, attenders, cleaners and a majority of the cooks employed by club owners are finding it hard to make ends meet. It is not easy for these workers to get jobs overnight and many among them are sole bread winners in their family,” said an employee, who was also asked to leave a couple of days after the police imposed the shut-down.
Winners all
Star hotels and a few resorts outside the city, however, are big gainers from this action of the police. Most big card players are now hiring rooms in star hotels and some big groups are happily playing the game at luxurious resorts. “They play high stakes and can afford the cost at these places and they are also assured that there will be no raids by the police. So they have all migrated to these posh venues,” said a club owner.
It is also learnt that a few small club owners have appealed to the government that since they do not conduct high-stakes games and most of their members are retired people, who frequent their clubs for reading and playing very small-stake games, they should be exempted. “A lot of pensioners join and play Rs 100 “Jackpot” game after the daily reading of newspapers and journals and they are questioning the wisdom of the government and police to initiate action on the ‘Pensioners’ clubs too,” said a small club owner.
The police source confirmed that all small clubs operating on a nominal membership and conducting small stakes Rummy games have been told that they can resume their activities and that the police would continue to monitor all the activities in the card rooms.
The police also pointed out that more than a couple of crores change hands in the big card clubs, which have now become big gambling dens, and that they paid no taxes on the big money they make from collecting the ‘big kitty’ each day.
The big card players of the city are hopping mad. Club owners are crying foul and the begums and ranis, who host the many kitty parties, are livid that the police have sealed all private card clubs that conduct high-stake
More than 500 clubs in the city, including the 30 big ones in Majestic and a couple in Mahatma Gandhi Road area that play host to the big card gamblers, have been shut down.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar told Bangalore Mirror that the objective was to crack down on all illegal activities in the city. The top cop added that it has been brought to the notice of the police that rowdy sheeters and criminals congregate at dance bars and card gambling centres and that often leads to drunken brawls and fatal street fights. Alok Kumar also pointed out that many clubs are situated in residential areas and the residents have lodged complaints about disturbance.
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The club owners, in response, question the police action, pointing out that they had obtained the required licences to operate the club and all the registered clubs are following the guidelines. “We only conduct Rummy games and no “Teen Patti or Andar-Bahar” games are conducted in the clubs. Rummy games are played by the members at all the big clubs like Bowring Institute and
The police disclosed that all recreational clubs have been granted licences to operate card tables on the condition that they also provide sport-and-leisure facilities. A reading room, a
“The big recreational clubs have all the sports and leisure facilities, including swimming pools and they are all following the rules and regulations and that’s the reason we have not initiated action against them,” pointed out a police officer.
Many staff members working in the clubs disclosed that it is the daily wage workers who are hit hard by the police crackdown.
“More than 10,000 daily wage earners have lost their jobs. Helpers, attenders, cleaners and a majority of the cooks employed by club owners are finding it hard to make ends meet. It is not easy for these workers to get jobs overnight and many among them are sole bread winners in their family,” said an employee, who was also asked to leave a couple of days after the police imposed the shut-down.
Representational image
Winners all
Star hotels and a few resorts outside the city, however, are big gainers from this action of the police. Most big card players are now hiring rooms in star hotels and some big groups are happily playing the game at luxurious resorts. “They play high stakes and can afford the cost at these places and they are also assured that there will be no raids by the police. So they have all migrated to these posh venues,” said a club owner.
It is also learnt that a few small club owners have appealed to the government that since they do not conduct high-stakes games and most of their members are retired people, who frequent their clubs for reading and playing very small-stake games, they should be exempted. “A lot of pensioners join and play Rs 100 “Jackpot” game after the daily reading of newspapers and journals and they are questioning the wisdom of the government and police to initiate action on the ‘Pensioners’ clubs too,” said a small club owner.
The police source confirmed that all small clubs operating on a nominal membership and conducting small stakes Rummy games have been told that they can resume their activities and that the police would continue to monitor all the activities in the card rooms.
The police also pointed out that more than a couple of crores change hands in the big card clubs, which have now become big gambling dens, and that they paid no taxes on the big money they make from collecting the ‘big kitty’ each day.
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