The Hindu : State to get report on on-line lottery

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 05, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

State to get report on on-line lottery

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore March 4. The Karnataka Chief Minister, S. M. Krishna, accepted in the Assembly on Tuesday an Opposition suggestion to get a report from the Bangalore City Police Commissioner and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) on the effects of on-line lottery on people.

Replying to a supplementary on a question by M. S. Atmananda of the Congress, the Chief Minister made it clear that the Government was not encouraging on-line lottery and invited suggestions from members as to how the common man could be weaned from it.

At one stage, the BJP members staged a dharna when the Chief Minister instead of agreeing to their demand for a ban on on-line lottery, preferred to appeal to the people not to play on-line lottery. The members, however, resumed their seats when Mr. Krishna invited suggestions to wean people from on-line lottery and offered to place in the House a report from the Police Commissioner and NIMHANS. Mr. Krishna's intervention followed unhappiness expressed by the Opposition over the reply of the Minister of State for Lottery, Babu Rao Chinchansoor, who defended the on-line scheme on the ground that it provided employment to about 25,000 educated youths besides ensuring a revenue of Rs.1,096 crores in five years.

The Leader of the Opposition in the House, Jagadish Shettar, his party colleague, Suresh Kumar, and the Janata Dal(U) member, B. N. Bachche Gowda, disputed the claim of Mr. Chinchansoor that on-line lottery did not adversely affect the common man and sought a ban on the on-line scheme. The Janata Dal(U) floor leader, P. G. R. Sindhia, suggested that a confidential report be got from the Police Commissioner and NIMHANS on on-line lottery.

Earlier, Mr. Krishna said society was bound to have some evils such as racing and drinking, which fetched revenues. For instance, the excise revenue, which was Rs.250 crores in 1991, had gone up to Rs.2,000 crores. The paper lottery scheme had not been banned because of the revenue it earned. The Government could only educate the people against gambling. Moreover, there had to be a national policy, as banning lottery in one State would not help.

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