Sans liquor, these villagers in Karnataka turn to gambling

With tighter measures being enforced, especially in cities, those employed in nearby towns including daily wagers are stuck in their villages for many days.

Published: 13th April 2020 07:15 AM 

By Ajith M S

Express News Service

MYSURU: With the countrywide lockdown confining people to their villages and alcohol being out of bounds, villagers have turned to gambling which is slowly becoming an addiction from being just a pastime. With tighter measures being enforced, especially in cities, those employed in nearby towns including daily wagers are stuck in their villages for many days. Many have turned to gambling as a pastime eventually getting addicted to it.

“Usually we are occupied with activity all day at our work place. We have now become quite restless without any work hence we turned to gambling to kill time,” said a youth from Kittur in Periyapatna.

With betting becoming rampant, despite many being out of the job and running out of savings, villagers themselves had announced penalty for gambling and have prohibited such activities. Even police authorities had intensified their crackdown following reports and had booked many for it during the lockdown.

This has been going on even when it was revealed that a COVID-19 positive patient had gambled with a few men in Hebya village of Nanjangud after which all them had to be quarantined.

However, none of this hindered people from continuing the addictive game.

“Fearing the police, people have stopped gambling in town areas and have moved to farmlands and fields,” said Raghu from Hullahalli in Nanjangud. A senior cop speaking said ample measures are in place across the district and already many have been booked for gambling.