Three-card Monte, AKA the shell game, is remarkably resilient. Hundreds of years old, if not thousands, it just keeps soldiering on. The game has apparently been revived–in a slightly different form–on the roads of Kerala, India. From newindpress:
‘Natakuth’, a sort of street gambling, which is a punishable offence under Section 15 of Kerala Gaming Act, is becoming a flourishing business in the city.
Often, students and daily wage labourers fall prey to this game, which sometimes leads to clashes.
These gambling spots also are a haven for pick-pockets as onlookers usually crowd these places.
Places like the by-lanes of Mavoor road, KSRTC bus stand and the Puthyambalam Road are the favourite haunts for these gambling gangs.
A gambling group, usually comprises three persons and is equipped with only a pen and a ‘nata’ (a thick ribbon), will earn Rs. 1,500 to 2,000 a day.
Revealing his operations, a gambler said that usually one of the gang members, pretending to be a participant in the game, will attract potential ‘customers’ by winning a game, where he will double his money.
‘‘Getting ‘convinced’ of its potential to give handsome returns, the onlookers will join the game and try their luck, but they will never get back the money,’’ he says.
This might not literally be “the oldest trick in the book,” but it is definitely one of them.
TIP: If you are anywhere in the world, and you see a group of people “gambling” in the street, and someone “hits it big,” and everyone looks at you to bet next, don’t do it.
All professional gambling games are predicated on the idea of a house advantage, so if something seems to good to be true–like natakuth, it probably is.