Punjabis put off by online lotteries, bet on paper

CHANDIGARH: Punjabis prefer to lay their bets on paper rather than online lotteries. Reason: high price pay-off, active lottery schemes and desire for the No 1 slot. Even though the sale of online lotteries has picked up by 15-20 per cent over last year but still the sale of paper lotteries has emerged as the clear leader.
Says Sher Singh Sandhu, director Punjab State Lottery, "for long, paper lotteries have make substantial contribution to the revenue of the state.The income of the directorate in the last financial year was Rs 87 crore and it is likely to touch Rs 100 crore this fiscal."
In fact, Punjab is the second largest revenue earner in paper lotteries while Karnataka leads with Rs 200 crore (2003-04), up from Rs 140 crore, followed by Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim, Nagaland, Kerala, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Among the cities Jalandhar, Patiala and Ambala top the list for the number of online lottery terminals.
Basically, as the price payoff for paper lotteries is 90 per cent compared to only 70-75 per cent for online lotteries. Moreover, in the online system, the winner has to pay a part of the price to the agents, says Usman Fayaz, president of All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries from New Delhi. "Naturally, people prefer to buy where the price pay off is more," says Fayaz.
Another major attraction of the state is employment. Each year about 5-7 per cent are employed besides numerous indirectly employed. Likewise even the online lotteries generate good employment but it still lays untapped, says Sandhu.
Directorate of Punjab State Lotteries, a wing of the finance department, has been running lotteries weekly, bumper and monthly lotteries. The bumper lotteries include Baisakhi, Rakhi, Jai Jawaan Jai Kisaan, New Year and Holi Bumper lotteries, which reward huge returns. But is far lesser than the lottery schemes held and price amount awarded by Karnataka, remarks Fayaz.
"This year, Supreme Court passed a judgment that no lottery should be allowed to run which is not a state organised lottery. In fact, states including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Jarkhand have lifted the ban due to the employment and revenue factors," says Fayaz.
The first online lottery in the region was launched in 2002. But it still lacks proper corporate support in the region, says Sandhu and adds that once the state enters into the online lottery segment it will help in promotion.
States like Sikkim, Karnataka, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh are already into online lotteries while Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal and Rajasthan are likely to step in. These states have allotted a number of agents like Playwin (Zee), Sunshine (Modi), Fortuno (Essel), Smartwin (Martin Group) and Dhan-Dhuma-Dham (Videocon).