The state government will strongly take up with the Centre the issue of the proposed ban on all state lotteries, decided by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday. The union cabinet decided to bring in a comprehensive legislation to ban central and state government lotteries. According to a senior state government official, the state government had already requested the Union government not to impose the ban earlier this year. Last October Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had also expressed his opposition to the ban until the lottery sellers were provided alternative employment, the official added.
Lotteries are big business in the state earning crores worth of revenue.
State revenues from lotteries have dipped from a peak of over Rs 10 crore four years ago to around Rs 4 crore currently owing to stiff competition from other state lotteries and illegal lotteries. The revenue flows in through the MRL which has a network of 300 agents, over a 100 in Mumbai alone. A state government official mentioned how the state lottery sold tickets worth a staggering Rs 2 crore in its March 21 Ram Navami draw held at Shirdi. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Lottery Sellers' Association has warned of widespread unemployment and loss of revenue in the state if the Union government implemented its decision to ban all state lotteries. The mass unemployment could prove a major embarrassment for the state government as the state polls are just a year away.