In India this has been the month of Shravan – the most important month of the year. There are holidays and celebrations throughout the auspicious month and the culmination of all the festivities is Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna. All the celebrations bring lots of gambling especially with a traditional Indian game known as teen-patti (played with 3 cards and quite similar to poker).

The gambling frenzy all over the region has spawned a new breed of professional gamblers. These professionals are called jockeys and they play for wealthy businessmen and merchants who hire the jockeys to make money for them. All the money backing the jockeys is put up by the businessmen and the gamblers get a cut of up to 20% of all winnings.

Stock broker Jayesh Shah says he’s hires two or three jockeys for the season. Estimates say there are around 50 such professional gamblers for hire just in Ahmedabad where Shah is located. A good jockey can make upwards of Rs 1 lakh in a month – about $2500 American money.

As Shah says, “It is always worth the investment.