CHANDIGARH – Punjab’s decision to start its own online lottery to earn additional revenue has invited sharp criticism from various sections of society. The state government has been accused of promoting gambling to earn money while failing to take corrective measures to improve revenue.
Opposition leaders have ridiculed the state’s attempts to earn money by starting online lotteries and establishing turf clubs for betting on horses. The Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, Sunil Jakhar, says it is sad that a state like Punjab, beset with several social ills, including drug and liquor addiction, should now opt for gambling and betting to earn money. “Do they want to make Punjab another Las Vegas,” he asked.
The state Cabinet has approved 24 daily draws of online lottery. So far, the government has allowed operations of online lotteries for three states — Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland. These are being run by 11,00 retailers across the state. These 48 draws of online lotteries yield a revenue of Rs 105 crore per annum.
The state government runs only paper lotteries, which are bumper draws, and not the daily lotteries. These yield Rs 15 crore per annum as revenue. The daily paper lottery was stopped in March 2010. Officials in the Lottery department said they were all set to float the tender and invite applications from bidders to start the government’s online lottery at 3,000 locations.
“We expect to earn Rs 150 crore as revenue from the state’s online lottery. Together, we are hopeful that the online lottery will yield Rs 255 crore per annum” said a senior official. He said technical and financial bids of companies willing to operate the online lottery would be finalised by the year-end. The bidder will be required to design, operate and maintain the lottery system.
