Clandestine texts, briefcases with cash: Inside the illegal pop-up casinos of NCR

It's a few minutes past midnight on a chilly November day in Sector 79 on the fringes of Gurugram. The neighbourhood is sparse, with tracts of farmland to the west and the expanse of the Aravallis to the east. A few sprawling farmhouses dot the quiet landscape. Outside one of these, four burly men stand guard. Sporadically, a guest makes their way up to this farmhouse. The bouncer frisks them as an usher cross-checks their IDs with a short guest list. Once through, they take a short walk to a four-roomed bungalow, shrouded by tall trees.

- Leena Dhankhar

Each guest walks into an otherwise unremarkable living room in the bungalow. Unremarkable, except for a roulette table, with poker chips piled across its surface. Each table is helmed by a croupier, or a dealer, in a red dress. On either side of her, 20 people pack the table. Each of them is carrying a briefcase bursting at the seams with cash. It should, they hope, last them the night.

Welcome to an illicit pop-up casino in Gurugram, one of many that thrive in the city's dark spots past midnight throughout the year, but come into their own just before Diwali.

Over the course of a few hours, usually between midnight and before sunrise, these makeshift casinos in these farmhouses are taut with tension. Not only do the bets stack up past the eight-figure mark, the risk of getting caught is rife. Casinos are illegal in most states, including Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

But the risk is not enough of a deterrent.

Over the past year alone, the Gurugram police and the Haryana chief minister's flying squad have busted 16 casinos on the margins of Millennium City. Seven of these were stopped over the past three months, and police expect this number to shoot up over the next few days, as residents mark Diwali around poker tables.

"Most of these casinos operate out of farmhouses in sector 79, Sohna, Badshahpur, and Bhondsi. More than 100 people have been arrested in the last three months," said Inderjit Yadav, deputy superintendent of police of the CM's flying squad.

Details of the clandestine night are shared on WhatsApp groups and Instagram messages, to a select few aficionados. These lists are pruned carefully, to keep spies at bay.

HT got into a casino party at a Gurugram farmhouse one November night, and watched the night unravel, as men and women from upper-middle class families, dressed unsuspectingly in casuals, drove in from Delhi, Noida, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Faridabad.