labels: entertainment
Kerala poorer by Rs 6,000 crore due to illegal other-state lotteries news
James Paul
11 November 2003

Kochi: The Kerala State Lottery Directorate has estimated that the state exchequer has lost around Rs 6,000 crore due to the illegal sale of other-state lotteries in Kerala in the last one-and-a-half years.

Concerned over such huge revenue loss, the directorate on Monday turned down the proposals of the Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim state governments seeking authorisation to sell their online lotteries in the state.

The directorate rejected the proposals on the ground that the information provided by the two states was "grossly inadequate" and did not conform to the Kerala State Lotteries and Online Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2003. These states have been given 15 days' time to file a second application.

Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are the only states, out of the total eight states selling lotteries here, which have approached the State Lottery Directorate officially to sell lotteries here. Various states have been operating their lotteries in the state through various private agencies without the statutory clearance of the Kerala government. As per the rule, it is illegal to operate lotteries in the state without the written authorisation of the Taxes Secretary. So far, none of the private agencies has got it.

There are as many as 2,000 retail outlets / terminals being operated all over the state. Each retailer is expected to pay Rs 20,000 for each draw. Though as many as 21 to 40 draws are conducted every week by various agencies, sales tax for only a single weekly draw is being paid by them. The loss of the government per week per outlet works out to Rs 4 lakh to 8 lakh. It came to Rs 6,000 crore during the last one-and-a-half years, according to the Lottery Directorate.

Lottery Director K Suresh Kumar says the directorate decided to take a stern posture against the other-state lotteries as it had been receiving umpteen complaints regarding the unscrupulous activities of the agencies running these online lotteries on behalf of various state governments. "Most of the irregularities in the lottery sector are due to the fact that the respective governments have very little control over the private agencies."

There was a spate of lottery-related suicides all over the state in the last few months and a number of online outlets were attacked by the public. "While it is impossible to ban lotteries operated by other states as long as we don't ban our own lottery, it is our responsibility to ensure that the general public is not cheated by these unscrupulous operators and that the legitimate revenue due to government is promptly collected," says Kumar.

Two online lottery terminals, in the meantime, were seized, nine lottery shops raided, and three outlets sealed in Kozhikode as part of the continuing crackdown on illegal sale of single-digit and online lotteries. Lottery Department sources say all outlets selling lotteries other than those of Kerala have been brought under the gamut of the action launched by the district administration, the city police and the department.

The raid did not yield much as shop-owners had already taken away the tickets and the terminals fearing government action. Most of the online lottery outlets in the state remained closed today following the notice of the Lottery Directorate on Saturday. The sale of Kerala lotteries has picked up in the past few days. The number of unsold tickets has come down considerably all over the state.


 search domain-b
  go
 
Kerala poorer by Rs 6,000 crore due to illegal other-state lotteries