Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Government issues notice to Sikkim, Bhutan lottery agents

Special Correspondent

Stockists found flouting provisions of Central Act

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State Government has issued a notice to the agents of Sikkim and Bhutan lotteries, whose annual turnover in the State runs into thousands of crores, to show cause why the sales tax registrations issued to them should not be cancelled.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Saturday, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said the stockists of the lotteries were found flouting several provisions of the Central Act governing lotteries.

Huge turnover

The annual turnover of the lotteries ranges between Rs.5,000 crore and Rs.8,000 crore in Kerala, according to the estimates of the Taxes Department, he said.

The Lotteries Act stipulates that the Governments that run the lotteries themselves should print the tickets.

An investigation conducted by the Vigilance Department confirmed that the stipulation is not being followed in the case of the Sikkim and Bhutan lotteries, although they are being sold in Kerala under the banner of the Governments of Sikkim and Bhutan, Dr. Isaac said.

The stockists are not remitting the entire returns from the sales of the tickets in the treasury, as stipulated by another provision in the Act, he said.

Further, the Act insists that the frequency of the draw of tickets should not exceed once a week, the Minister said.

The Sikkim lottery is conducting 28 draws and the Bhutan lottery 14 draws a week.

Guard against addiction

Dr. Isaac said the restriction in the frequency of draws was meant to guard against the lotteries becoming an addiction to the buyers.

"Bhutan lottery is conducting, on an average, four draws a day. This is addictive and is endangering the social and financial security (of the people of the State)," he said.

Dr. Isaac said the Government had directed the taxes officials not to collect sales tax from the lottery stockists in advance.

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