Paddle gambling in the market

At the Night Market we stumbled upon this court with raised flat beds for families to sit in and people were buying paddles. We thought is was some form of gambling. Mark looked it up later and it may be people are placing money for paddles to win lanterns? We're not sure but it was certainly interesting and I wanted to win what every it was!
Need to research this more, as I feel these paddles could bring me some winnings!
If anyone has more info I'd love to know how to play and of course WIN!