375 cases booked in over five years; conviction in just six incidents
Panaji : In the last five and a half years, 375 cases were booked by the Goa police against matka gambling thriving within the close vicinity of police stations.
However, in over 54 per cent of these cases, the accused were found not guilty and hence acquitted by courts.
From 2020 to June 2025, the Goa police during the raids arrested alleged matka bookies and seized gambling material as well as a large stashes of banknotes.
A total of 375 cases were booked and alleged bookies arrested for accepting bets on the ‘game of chance’ near police stations.
As per government data, out of the 375 cases, the police managed to secure conviction in just six cases while in 203 cases, the accused were acquitted, four persons were discharged while one case was dropped. In another case the police filed a closure report (A-abetted), while the trial has been pending in 160 such cases.
The police said that raids are conducted whenever information is received regarding matka gambling and cases are booked under the provision of the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act 1976.
Apart from matka gambling, the police busted cricket betting rackets and 39 cases were registered from 2020 to June 2025.
Of the 39 cases, the police managed to secure conviction in two cases. There was acquittal in one case, while 10 cases have been under investigation, and 26 cases have been pending trial.
There have been several cases where bookies from outside Goa were found running cricket betting rackets from the state. But the police have denied Goa being a safe haven for cricket betting.
They said that whenever intelligence is received action is initiated as per law.
The police maintain regular patrolling in their respective jurisdictions and also collect intelligence through their sources about illegal gambling activities, said senior police officials.
