Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel demands nationwide ban on lotteries
BJP leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Vijay Goel demanded a nationwide ban on all forms of lotteries in a zero hour mention in the upper house of parliament yesterday.
While raising the matter, Goel said that lotteries leads to the poor losing their hard earned income and savings and noted that single digit lotteries were banned in the year 1998 and a new law the Lotteries (Regulation) Act was passed by the parliament.
He however noted that the ban on single digit lotteries is not sufficient and all forms of lotteries, including multi-digit lotteries, that are operating in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab and Karnataka should be banned and that the central government should introduce a new law ensuring a nationwide ban on lottery sales.
Goel added that efforts were made to ensure a complete ban on lotteries in the year 1998 but the Bill demanding the same could not be passed due to the ‘lottery mafia’, despite signatures and support of 134 MPs.
The BJP MP also added that he does not want to speak about the irregularities in these lotteries but stated that he wanted to eliminate the social evil called lotteries that is plaguing the country since 1947, and appealed to all MPs to support his demand for a ban on all kinds of lotteries.
Several MPs cutting across party lines and states, including Ambika Soni (Congress), Manoj Kumar Jha (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Ram Kumar Kashyap (BJP) and Sushil Kumar Gupta (Aam Aadmi Party) associated themselves with Goel’s demand and endorsed his zero hour mention.
Vijay Goel, a former union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi cabinets, has been a staunch anti-lottery activist and has lead a crusade against lotteries operating in the countries for the last three decades.
Goel was instrumental in ensuring the passage of the Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998, that resulted in a ban single digit lotteries and imposed strict restrictions on sale of lotteries run by state governments.
