By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government is all set to revive online lottery and the ground work for the same has already started.
Giving this indication, a senior government official on Tuesday said all the relevant documents have been submitted to the government to take the final call.
While declining to give a tentative date for revival of the lottery, the official said that the Government would invite the Expressions of Interests (EoIs) once the decision is finalised.
“Since the first online lottery deal signed with MS Associates was an unsuccessful one, the Government wants to go slow this time to ensure that the fresh deal does not meet the same fate like the first one which had resulted in huge revenue loss,” an official source said.
As the deal signed in 2001 with MS Associates came to an end on August 22, 2012, the source said that the Government was now free to look for a new partner to run the online lottery.
“This time we would be incorporating more stringent clauses in the agreement,” the official said.
Stating that the Centre has come up with the new Lottery (Regulation) Rules, 2010, the official said, “We would have to formulate the new agreement in accordance with these rules.”
It may be mentioned here that MS Associates is yet to pay the State government Rs 25 crore due since 2002.
Commissioner and Secretary (Taxation), PW Ingty, had earlier informed that the Department had been asked to come up with necessary papers to get back the money from MS Associates.
“We are concerned over the matter and the Department is working on measures to get back the money,” Ingty had said.
The government had signed an agreement with MS Associates in 2001 to conduct the online lottery with a guaranteed amount of Rs 3 crore to the government in the first year.
However, after protests from pressure groups and the Opposition, the agreement was amended in 2002 under which the company had to pay not less than Rs 12 crore a year and it could conduct not less than 4,000 draws per year.
In October 2004, MS associates asked the State Government to reduce the minimum guaranteed amount from Rs 12 crore to Rs 6 crore per year. Later in 2005, the company arbitrarily stopped the online lottery business in the State.