SHILLONG: After a gap of years, Meghalaya Government has once again decided to revive lottery in the state.
The State Cabinet on Tuesday gave a go ahead to the proposal of the Excise Registration Taxation Stamps Department (ERTS) department to proceed ahead with the operationalisation of the lottery.
Chief Minister, Mukukl Sangma informed that the department has notified the new lottery rules as per the format adopted and circulated by the Ministry of Home in the year 2010.
The Cabinet while giving the approval to the department to go ahead with the lotter, however, made it clear to the department that it should ensure that its brand is built in a way which can compete with brands of other states.
Admitting that the past experience of the state as far as online lottery was not good, Mukul Sangma lamented that earlier only the minimum guaranteed revenue was the only revenue coming to the State Government exchequer.
However, the Cabinet has asked the department to ensure that the distributors are tasked with the responsibility to brand built the state lottery.
Asserting that distributors of Meghalaya lottery were not able to compete with other states as one distributor was also the distributor for the lottery of other states, Sangma informed that the process of operationalization of lottery would be done through a national bidding.
He also informed that earlier minimum draws were taking place for Rs 1000, 2000 but now the minimum rate has been fixed at Rs 10000.
It may be reminded that in 2001, the Meghalaya Government had signed an agreement with MS Associates to conduct the online lottery with a guaranteed amount of Rs 3 crore to the government in the first year.
However, after protests from the 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, M S 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 stopped its online lottery business in the State.
