A father in eastern India gave away his teenage daughter to a fellow gambler after he lost a card game, with police launching a hunt to retrieve the girl.

Ismail Sheikh, from a village in West Bengal, used his 18-year-old daughter as a stake after he lost all his money, The Times of India said on Sunday (local time).

"Ismail lost the game again and Mustafa walked away with the girl," said Satyajit Bandhopadhyay, a senior police officer investigating the case.

The girl protested but the victorious Mustafa dragged her out of the village, the report said.

Family members were quoted as saying the father was a compulsive gambler with a drink problem and they had thrown him out the house after losing the teenager.

Gambling is illegal in India but thousands of underground dens operate, attracting poor villagers who hope to make a quick buck.

- AFP