Step taken to curb fake lotteries, says Minister

The State government and the police's cyber wing are looking out for fake lotteries that are illegally marketed online under the Kerala State Lotteries brand, Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal has said.

The government was also taking steps to upgrade the Lotteries department technologically to combat such trends, Mr. Balagopal said on Monday, launching the new 'Fifty-Fifty' Sunday lottery that carried ₹ 1 crore as the first prize.

Contrary to popular perception, the State government scarcely made a huge profit from the lotteries, Mr. Balagopal said. The profit was actually small once the operational expenses and prize money liabilities were met, according to him. At the same time, the livelihood of over one lakh families were dependent on the State Lotteries, he said.

Course for lottery winners

The Finance Minister reiterated the department's plans to offer a brief course in finance management for lottery winners that focussed on to invest their prize money wisely. The experiences of previous winners indicated the need for such a helping hand, Mr. Balagopal said.

Sector back on track

State Lotteries director Abraham Renn said that the sector had bounced back after the COVID 19-induced slump. Lottery sales witnessed an increase. For the Vishu bumper lottery, 38 lakh tickets had been sold so far as against 22.8 lakh tickets last year. The department had so far printed 42 lakh tickets, and expected the sales to touch 45-50 lakh this year, he said.

With the introduction of the new 'Fifty-Fifty' lottery, there would be draws on all seven days of the week. The total amount offered as prizes were higher than the other weekly lotteries, Mr. Renn said.