Man Gambles Away Daughter in Poker Game

A Pakistani man went all in with his daughter in a poker game fifteen years ago - and lost.

Now, the Hyderabad man who won is trying to collect his prize. The 17-year-old girl, whose name was given only as Rasheeda, has appealed to local police to prevent her from being taken from her home.

The trouble began when Rasheeda was two years old. Losing, and faced with a bet he couldn't pay, her father told Lal Haider, 45, that he could have his daughter when she grew up. Haider remembered, and now is trying to collect.

Haider said he was paid the 10,000 rupee debt from the card game last year, a total of about $151. However, he insists local tribal customs dictate he should still receive Rasheeda. He told the family's uncle he hopes to marry her to one of his sons.

While both families live in Hyderabad - a city 100 miles north of the country's major city of Karachi - Haider belongs to the same tribe as Rasheeda. In a council meeting last week, tribal elders said the girl should probably be given to Haider, according to Khalid Rajput, a council member.

But Hyderabad police said that the girl would not be forced to do anything against her will. They have summoned Haider to talk with them about the incident.

In Pakistan, traditional marriages often have little or nothing to do with romance, making Haider's request not necessarily as surprising as it may seem. Marriages are negotiated between the two male heads of households. The terms of the marriage are outlined in advance and written down at a local registry, and the husband and wife are often more than the literal representation of the contract's terms. Oftentimes, even older siblings are allowed to marry off their younger brothers and sisters.

Nevertheless, Rasheeda said she has no plans to go ahead with the marriage.

Surprisingly, this is not the first time some men have shown a willingness to gamble their loved ones away. Andrei Karpov, a Russian man from Murmansk, offered his wife instead of cash as a way to stay in the game.