BETTING ON THE RAIN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XVII, 24 April 1897, Page 521

BETTING ON THE RAIN.

One of the most curious forms of gambling in the world is * rain gambling,’ which at this season of the year is at its height in Calcutta. The principal rain gambling den is in Cotton-street, Burra Bazaar. No one who has not visited the place can have any conception of the vast crowds which at every hour of the day and far into the night pass in and out. The great majority are Mawaris, who are born speculators, but there are as well plenty of well-to-do Europeans, Eurasians, Jews, Armenians and Greeks, and women, too. All swarm into the small courtyard where this strange form of gambling is carried on, through a narrow entrance barely three feet wide. The courtyard is about two hundred feet square. The farfamed tank with a spout falling into the courtyard is the one spot where all eyes are fixed. The tank stands at the edge of a second floor roof. It is about six feet broad by four feet wide, and nine inches deep, with the spout opening inward, some three or four inches from the bottom. From this it will be seen that it requires a pretty heavy downpour for at least ten minutes to cause the spout to flow. Intermittent drizzles, which partly fill this tank, do not count, as the shower to fill it must pour down uninterruptedly, and then the bets are won or lost. Chances are taken either for or against the spout running. A gray haired, wizened old man is the owner of the den, and there is another similar place across the road, only smaller. On the roof, over the fifth floor, there is a small, square watch tower, in which are stationed five or six men, whose duty it is to scan the horizon closely and report on the formation of rain clouds. On these reports the odds rise or fall. A bet made and won one day is always paid the following morning. Everything seems to be * on the square,’ and, indeed, there is little chance for cheating. The odds range as high as 1 to 75 on some days, even in the rainy season. Many have made a fortune in a single day. One person recently won over £5,000 in the course of a few weeks. But he worked the system on scientific methods.