THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will take all possible measures to prevent lottery mafias gaining control over the market, Finance Minister said. The minister’s announcement gains significance in the backdrop of the recent High Court order preventing the state government from interfering in the sale of Nagaland state lotteries in Kerala. The single bench order had also held that the amended Kerala Paper Lotteries (Regulation) Rules were ultra vires.
The minister termed the petitioner as ‘lottery mafia’ and said the government’s appeal petition is pending before the division bench.The state lottery is the livelihood of over a lakh of poor people and functions in a most transparent and honest manner, he said. His government has been successful in preventing the mafia so far. The state will effectively use the provisions of GST rules against other state lotteries operated through middlemen.
11,000 more prizes
Weekly lotteries will have 11,000 more prizes. For this, the share of prizes in the sales turnover has been increased to 60% from the present 58.5%.