Meet The Real-Life Matka King, Ratan Khatri, Built India’s Biggest Gambling Empire In 1960s

Matka King, the period crime drama series starring Vijay Varma in the lead role, was released on April 17, 2026. Set in 1960s Bombay, the series once again brought the real-life Matka King of Mumbai, Ratan Khatri, to the limelight. He was the man behind transforming the matka betting into a big empire. In the period crime drama series directed by Nagraj Manjule, Vijay has stepped into the shoes of ‘Brij Bhatti’. 

It is believed that Vijay’s character, ‘Brij Bhatti’, is inspired by  Ratan Khatri, the real-life ‘Matka King’ of Mumbai. Alongside Vijay Varma, the newly released 8-episode series stars Kritika Kamra, Sai Tamhankar, Jamie Lever, Siddharth Jadhav, Gulshan Grover, Vineet Kumar Singh, Bharat Jadhav, Bhupendra Jadawat and many more. Now, if you are interested in knowing about Ratan Khatri, the man behind building India’s biggest gambling empire in the 1960s, then we’ve got you covered.

Ratan Khatri’s early life

Ratan Khatri was born in 1932 in Karachi, Pakistan. He hailed from a Sindhi Hindu family. As a teenager, Ratan migrated to Bombay, India, along with his family during the Partition of 1947. By the 1960s, Ratan had built his sprawling gambling empire in Bombay. Initially, Ratan worked under Kalyanji Bhagat, another important figure in the world of matka gambling, known for the Worli Matka. It is worth mentioning that before the 1960s, the matka gambling involved betting on cotton prices.

Ratan Khatri brought a major change in matka gambling

According to a report by The Indian Express, on a fine morning back in 1962, Ratan appeared at the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s office and asked a group of crime reporters stationed outside the office to accompany him to Zaveri Bazaar for an important story. Ratan first took them to a snack shop for breakfast, and then he took the group to another shop where an earthen pot was kept on a table next to a deck of cards.

Ratan removed the Jack, King and Queen from the deck and placed the remaining cards inside the matka. Then he asked three reporters to pick a card each. Those card numbers were declared as the lucky numbers for the day. Bringing a new twist to the matka gambling, Ratan reportedly said, “Juay ke is naye silsile ka naam ‘matka’ hoga.”

Soon, Ratan became a big name and started his own matka gambling called Ratan matka with a daily turnover that touched Rs 1 crore. The source close to Ratan cited three reasons behind Ratan’s popularity. The first reason was that Ratan believed that people would come back only when they got something back from it. Thus, he designed it in such a way that people would get some returns. Secondly, faster communications through the telephone and thirdly, he made the whole process of betting trustworthy. The source was quoted as saying:

“There were three main reasons for Khatri’s popularity. One, he believed that ‘the more you give people, the more they will play’. So the bets were stacked in such a way that people generally tended to get more money back from Rattan ‘matka’. Khatri’s ‘matka’ empire extended until wherever the telephone wires went. Wherever he was roaming around, normally in the Kalbadevi area, he would ask anyone, from an Irani cafe owner to a club employee, to pick the three cards in front of a crowd so there was no suspicion of foul play.”

Ratan Khatri produced a film, Rangila Ratan, starring Rishi Kapoor and Parveen Babi in the lead roles

For the unversed, Ratan Khatri produced a film, Rangila Ratan, featuring Rishi Kapoor and Parveen Babi in lead roles. He also made a cameo in this film. The late actor, Rishi, had mentioned Ratan in his autobiography, Khullam Khulla. Alongside Rishi and Parveen, the film also starred Ashok Kumar in a prominent role. Rishi stated in his autobiography that Ratan would ask him and Ashok Kumar to pick a card. Rishi wrote:

“Another dubious character I used to know is Ratan Khatri, once referred to as Mumbai’s ‘matka’ king. He produced a film called Rangila Ratan that had Parveen Babi and me in the lead… In the evening, he would ask either Dadamoni (Ashok Kumar) or me to pick a card, the number of which was flashed all over Mumbai within minutes. That was the lucky number for the day.”

Ratan Khatri served in jail during the Emergency

For the uninitiated, between 1975 and 1977, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, imposed an Emergency all over India. At the time, several matka operators were put behind bars. Ratan Khatri was also one of them, who was jailed back then. His relationship with Kalyanji soured as he did nothing to help Ratan stay out of jail.

Ratan Khatri passed away in 2020

As per reports, Ratan Khatri died on May 9, 2020, at his Tardeo residence in South Mumbai. Reports stated that Ratan died due to cardiac arrest. At the time, he was 88 years old.

What are your thoughts on Ratan Khatri’s role in setting up the biggest gambling empire? Let us know.

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