Sukkur’s ‘unlucky’ draws deceiving hundreds

Dealers use the prize bond draws to earn extra bucks.

SUKKUR: “One day I will be rich,” says Waziran, an elderly domestic worker who cleans three houses every day.

For the past eight years, Waziran has been “investing” her money in prize bond draws.

“My son brings ‘lucky numbers’ for me but those numbers have never proved lucky,” she smiles sadly. Despite the prolonged misfortune, Waziran is determined that she is not wasting her money. “I’m investing my money,” she says resolutely.

Every 15 days the State Bank of Pakistan organises prize bond draws. Seizing this opportunity to make use of people’s ignorant optimism, the more conniving ‘businessmen’ start a side-business of issuing chits and lucky numbers. Popularly known as ‘prize bond parchis’, these chits are based on two, three or four digits. They are sold for different amounts, from Rs10 to Rs1,000.

It is a tricky business with room for deception at every corner.

People bring their ‘lucky numbers’, which many string together after long deliberations in groups over ‘guess papers’. These lucky numbers are two, three or four-digits long and if they match the first (two, three and four respectively) digits of the winning six-digit prize bond numbers then the recipients get a prize.

These parchi dealers are minting money in two ways. The people who buy their chits from them pay up at that time while those who manage to win a prize have to come here and give up 10 per cent of whatever they have won.

Few people out of thousands are lucky enough to get a small prize ranging between Rs1,000 to Rs5,000 while two or three win the bigger prizes like Rs50,000 and Rs100,000. The majority, of course, get nothing at all.

Meanwhile, the so-called learned men who make guess papers have their own profits to reap. These papers contain clues and suggestions on which digits to choose. From inferences about the position of the moon to more believable ones about numbers that won in the previous draws, guess papers are an integral part of the business.

The ‘parchi fever’ intensifies after the 10th and 25th of each month since the prize bond draw is held on the first and 15th. Hundreds crowd photostat shops where the guess papers are sold.

Rubina Mirani, another domestic worker, is almost addicted to these prize bond draws. She earns Rs2,500 per month and spends around Rs500 to Rs700 on chits. The fact that she once won Rs5,000 in a draw has just strengthened her belief in these raffles and she continues to spend a quarter of her hard-earned money to buy these chits every month.

According to one of the men in this business, the secret to their success is that they “never lose”. Muhammad Bhai, who used to make rubber stamps and is now running the ‘parchi business’ on the side, says he took it up because he was just not making enough money. “I started the parchi business eight years ago and by now I have earned so much that I recently bought a flat,” he tells The Express Tribune furtively.

He says he knows several people who are doing the same and are ‘earning a fortune’.

These dealers are everywhere in Sukkur city but most of them are concentrated around the Clock Tower, at the Dhak Road, Barrage Road, Bunder Road, Miani Road, New Goth, New Pind, Old Sukkur and Gharibabad.

Most of the people who buy into these ‘lucky’ draws are from the lower-income groups. The chance that one day they will strike it rich makes them buy these chits every fortnight.

“I have been trying my luck for the last 15 years but other than two or three little prizes, I have won nothing,” says a dejected Allah Dino.

He is employed as a driver with a private firm and earns Rs6,000 per month. “I know it is wrong to spend almost a quarter of my salary on these ‘parchis’, but now it is like an addiction,” he explains. He recalls that he started buying prize bond chits after his elder brother won Rs1 million in such a draw.

Sometimes the police carry out raids and arrest dealers who are fooling residents by the dozens, but almost always these men are let go off. Residents allege that often police officials arrest the dealers only to take bribes from them. With no tangible danger to dealing in this business, more and more people are taking it up.

DSP City Sukkur Rizwan Soomro says since he got his posting, he has ordered all SHOs to take “drastic action against the persons involved in this heinous business”. He is of the view that police carry out raids at least twice a month and many parchi dealers are arrested.

However, they are released on bail by the courts. Soomro also admits that sometimes the men are freed due to the “laxity of the SHOs” while sometimes it is because of pressure from influential persons. He maintains, however, that he is committed to rooting out this problem and he resolves to take “stricter measures”.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2010.