The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : State to oppose move to ban paper lotteries

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

State to oppose move to ban paper lotteries

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala would strongly oppose the Central government move to ban paper lotteries, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac told the Assembly on Monday.

Responding to a calling attention motion from M. Prakashan Master (CPI-M), the Finance Minister said the State had already communicated its objection to the Centre and would do the same when the related case comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court on August 18. Around two lakh people in the State were dependent on paper lotteries sales for livelihood, he pointed out.

The tricky part

Dr. Isaac said the Central move was to bring online lotteries also within the ambit of the definition of ‘lottery.’

This would imply that if there was to be a ban on online lotteries, it would also result in a ban on paper lotteries.

There was an element of gambling in all lotteries. In order to prevent addiction to lotteries, the Centre had brought forward a law stipulating that only government had the authority to run lotteries, he said.

The State government had communicated its objection at a meeting convened by the Centre on June 10.

The cases relating to the State government ban on illegal paper lotteries was also slated to come up for hearing on August 18.

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