Goa
plans on-line lottery
Sandesh Prabhudesai
14 October 2002
Following other
state governments and private players, Goa is
also now planning to float on-line lotteries.
"Goa has a name which can click",
states chief minister Manohar Parrikar.
To prove a point, he points out
at a Maharashtra-based firm that has even started
gutkha in the name of Goa.
While details of the lottery are
yet to be finalised, the cabinet today decided
to float tenders within a fortnight.
Parrikar claims he is personally
not in favour of such kind of business, but feels
the long-pending proposal could be now implemented
with such on-line lotteries started everywhere
in the country.
To provide moralistic justification
to the kind of gambling activity, the Bharatiya
Janata Party-led coalition government however
has also decided to utilise the revenue only for
social cause like health or education.
The state expects net annual revenue
of around Rs 25 crore from the whole exercise.
The state has also not decided whether
to have seven different weekly lotteries, to make
it a daily affair. "We will decide it, depending
on the response to the tenders", he said.
A decision in this regard has been
pending since 2000.
