Into the Bookmaker’s World with Albert Piperno

By Barun Chanda

If you are a racing person in India you would like to meet Albert Piperno for two reasons. One, he is one of the most widely respected Bookies in India and certainly the seniormost in Calcutta. The other, his charismatic background. He is of Italian descent, with a grandfather who worked clandestinely as a spy for the British army during the First World War, born and educated in Burma, and settled down as a Bookmaker in Calcutta. The thing about Albert Piperno is, he has racing or, rather `Bookmaking', in his blood. His father, Guido, who studied at St. Xavier's College was a Bookmaker, as was his English uncle James Kaye, married to his father's sister.

Indeed, when he was born in Burma in 1922 his father and uncle Kaye had a thriving business as Bookmakers that extended far beyond Rangoon. Albert's studies in Rangoon got abruptly terminated by the bombing of the city. Indeed, life for the Kayes and Pipernos became quite unsafe after a while and they had to trek back from Rangoon to India with whatever little they could carry with them.

Arriving in Calcutta in March 1942, Albert went straight into the `Bookmaking' business with his uncle and father, starting life as an ordinary clerk. He worked with Kaye & Co. between `42 and 48', later becoming an independent licence holder. In 1952 Albert started out on his own, forming Piperno & Co.

The earliest mention of Bookmakers we have in India, is that of the arrival in 1881 of two English gentlemen, Miller and Brittain, who were given formal permission to bet within the enclosure. They were apparently a great success from the start and laid fair prices and settled promptly. In the course of the next few years the numbers grew and by 1890 there were 8 firms operating and paying varying amounts in fees according to the positions they occupied. It was a few years later that another English Bookmaker, Charles Hardinge, appeared. A quick witted Cockney, he was very popular at the meetings which he attended. Eventually, however, he fell foul of the Stewards for allegedly offering a bribe to a jockey. Hardinge was highly incensed, not at the Stewards' action, but at the slur cast on his intelligence when it was suggested that he had offered ten thousand rupees "when everyone knows that one thousand would have been enough". It was a good many years after this, when Bookmakers were tending to flock to India, that a French firm of bookmakers decided to come to Calcutta and pick up some easy money. They arrived at Bombay and hearing that there was a Meeting at Jubbulpore, decided to break their journey on the way over. This they did, only to be relieved of their entire working capital by the not so simple punters of Jubbulpore in the space of three days. So Calcutta never saw them.

During the years of the First World War racing in Calcutta grew by leaps and bounds. Applications to bet at Calcutta poured in from Bookmakers elsewhere in India, Burma, Australia, South Africa and England.

The number of Bookmakers and the Rings which they could bet in and the fees they were required to pay and the form and amount of their deposits, altered continuously over the years. Generally speaking, in the First Enclosure they were limited to about 14 and in the Second Enclosure to 6. For a short time a few were allowed in the Third Enclosure but this does not appear to have lasted long.

When the War broke out and Racing was severely curtailed in England, the applications from there increased a lot. The Stewards seemed to favour having one or two from Australia, presumably with the idea of stimulating competition and preventing the regular Calcutta layers forming a closed shop. About this time a number of Bookmakers who were later to become regular members of the Calcutta Ring first appeared. C.P. Simpson, J.W. Thomson, Fred Lander, were about the first and George Russell, F. Pell, Hutchins, Cahill and Oxenham came later. The Calcutta Ring had come a long way since Brittain and Miller first arrived in 1881. It was in 1911 that the Stewards forbade ante post betting except on the Viceroy's Cup, the Trials (later the King Emperor's Cup) and the Civil Service Cup. The following year apparently the Government were becoming exercised about the amount of betting that was taking place at the French settlement of Chandernagore on the Calcutta races.

In 1913, a Select Committee to examine gambling was set up by Government at which Sir Allen Arthur, who succeeded Sir Apcar as Senior Steward, represented the Club. Later the Bill which permitted Betting at the Club's Totes and "in the place set apart" as demarcated by the four posts of the Betting Ring, was passed and though there have been various amendments over the years, it basically holds good today.

As a person who has seen it all, Albert Piperno has the fondest memories associated with racing till the early 70's. He enjoyed his profession as a Bookmaker greatly. Racing was limited mostly to Saturdays, in exceptional cases it was extended to Sundays. And still, the business used to be good. One made handsome profits. As the Honorary Secretary of the Calcutta Bookmakers' Association, a position that he held for a record 40 years, Albert Piperno had even made sizeable donations to the Chief Minister's Flood Relief Fund.

But now age has finally caught up with him. What with interstate betting, life has become so much more hectic and complicated. One has to work five, even six days a week. And the old bones can take it no more.

Albert Piperno is one of the last of his breed. A foreigner who loved the excitement of Indian racing. And stayed with it for good. Albert feels he is Italian in origin only. But at heart he is an Indian, a Native. His house, so near to the RCTC stables at Hastings, is his real home. He converses freely in Hindi and Bengali. In his drawing room there is a cupboard full of trophies and cups. He smiles proudly as he points them out to me. "That's Enrico. My son. Plays tennis, you know".

I know. All the same I nod my head with him. "He's now the coach of the Indian Davis Cup team. You know Leander Paes - he coaches him". I nod my head again.

"It's a good thing that he's stayed away from racing. And made his name in tennis. You see", Albert thinks for a while, "racing used to be a King's sport. Rajas and Maharajas participated and conducted the proceedings. Now, it's all gone".