G3-247 Report INDIA
It is said if legal gambling was introduced in India the government could see Rs12,000 to Rs19,000 crore of revenue to the government via the Rs3bn crore illegal betting market alone.
The most popular game in India is Matka and because this is not subject to taxation the bookmakers can then offer better value payouts. Matka is very popular par- ticularly in Mumbai and Gujarat and originated as a game called Ankadar Jugar where people bet on the closing price of cotton in the New York stock exchange.
It grew in popularity in the 1970s when Rhatan Khatri ran the Matka racket in Mumbai. He was an honest and popular man and there was even call to make him Prime Minster when Indira Ghandi died. Khatri retired in the late 1990s and there has been a drop in Matka since the mafia has now taken control of the game and punters don’t know if the game is fixed or not. Invariably it is.
The game is similar to the lottery and there are two draws of three numbers per day drawn from a pack of cards with numbers zero to nine. The numbers from the draw are added up and the last number is also included in the line up. A second draw is held and these numbers are all put together.
LOTTERY IS LEGAL The lottery dates back to nearly 300 years in India and
was introduced in Goa during Portuguese rule and later in Calcutta during British rule.
Lotteries helped fund development work back in the 17th century and after independence Kerala became the first state to introduce a state lottery.
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01 There are 12 states which have legalised lottery – Maharahtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland - and these governments run lotteries to primarily increase their revenues however they are also banned in some states, whilst there are cases where one state has banned lotteries run by another as they compete with each other for a share in the market.
Up until 1998 there was no law in respect to state lot- teries and many states ran lotteries after obtaining Presidential Orders which entrusted each state with the power to operate lotteries.
Then Parliament enacted the Central Lotteries Act of 1998 which governs the lotteries and gave state govern- ments the authority to run such gambling restricting it to a maximum of one draw per week.
This act covers the whole of India and enables the state governments to organise and promote lotteries and sell via distributors and agents.
There are 12 states which have legalised lottery – Maharahtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland - and these governments run lotteries to primarily increase their revenues however they are also banned in some states, whilst there are cases where one state has banned lotteries run by
another as they compete with each other for a share in the market.
Key benefits of these lotteries include welfare initiatives, employment, funding for social development and tax revenue.
Later the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules 2010 was intro- duced to further regulate the industry and make the lot- tery operations became more transparent and disci- plined.
Kerala introduced its lottery in 1967 and today revenues in this state are Rs2,778 crore with revenues used for assisting patients with serious illnesses. Net gaming rev- enue was Rs682 crore last year. There is a distribution network with more than 35,000 agents and 100,000 retailers.
Currently the Finance Ministry lists around 17 lotteries run in traditional format and 241 online ones (2011). There are said to be 168 online lotteries in Goa and 63 in Sikkim.
The lottery can be played for as little as five Rupees or up to 50 Rupees and tickets are sold by vendors located around most markets.
The largest illegal lottery is Matka. Today this type of gambling is run by small time bookies primarily in the Kalyan and Mulund areas and is an underground opera- tion often run with criminal involvement. It is estimated that there are around 400 Matka bookies in the city and around 1,000 across the state.
Apart from the state government lotteries, the land-
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