Daily News Editorial

Luck of the draw

07 January 2017

The dispute between the Government authorities including the two lotteries boards and the lottery sellers (agents) has been resolved temporarily with the intervention of President Maithripala Sirisena. The dispute arose as a result of the Government’s decision to increase the price of a lottery ticket to Rs.30 from Rs.20 in line with a Budget 2017 proposal without essentially making any changes in the commission structure for lottery agents. It is still not clear whether the price hike will be effected, but the familiar “jackpot today” cry of lottery agents, amplified by megaphone, will be heard again countrywide from today. A note to sellers, though: can you turn down the cacophony, please?

Lotteries are run in virtually all countries today, either by Governments themselves or by approved private operators. Lotteries are used a means of generating additional revenue for Governments. Lotteries are first believed to have been held in China around 200 BC, but lotteries in their present form originated around 1400 in Belgium and Netherlands. The Dutch state-owned Staatsloterij is the oldest running lottery in the world. In fact, the English word “lottery” is derived from the Dutch noun “Lot” meaning “fate”.

The history of lotteries in Sri Lanka runs almost to the year of independence. The lottery was initially set up by the Sri Lankan Government to finance the health services. In 1949, the Minister of Local Government proposed to the Government to set up a lottery in order to improve and expand the health services. The proposal to establish the Hospital Lotteries Board was initiated under Act. No. 04 of 1955.

In the 1960s, the Government felt the need to widen its scope to cover other development activities. The National Lotteries Board (NLB) was established under the Finance Act No.11of 1963 to generate funds for development. The Development Lotteries Board (DLB) was established in the 1980s with much the same purpose in mind.

According to the National Lotteries Board website, in July - August 2016, the Lotteries Board earned an income of Rs. 10,045,460, but by September, it had decreased to Rs 8,019,216. This is perhaps a reflection of the times, with people placing other day-to-day priorities ahead of a dream jackpot. A price increase will not help under these circumstances, but the two boards can continue the usual practice of pricing special lotteries with very large price structures (Rs.50 million and above) at Rs.50 and Rs.100. But even with diminished sales, lotteries do make a huge contribution to the coffers. Most of the revenue from lottery sales goes to the President’s Fund, 50 percent of which is allocated for Mahapola scholarships. A certain amount is retained for the prize pool.

One factor that confuses buyers is that there is a bewildering array of lotteries under various names, from Mega Power to Jathika Sampatha. Around five or six draws are held daily, with some lotteries such as Saturday Fortune having several draws weekly. It would be better to consolidate the lotteries to a few well recognized names and widen the price structures. Given that buyers have to beat astronomical odds, even a Rs.100 million jackpot is fine, but there should be a better and bigger spread of the consolation prizes.

There have also been several previous attempts to have a “lotto” style lottery where the buyer can select the numbers on an electronic terminal, but none has been viable so far. One of the two lotteries boards should step in to fill this void but more awareness should be created on the advantages of this system. For example, you can play the same set of numbers for a few years until you score a win, which is impossible with pre-printed tickets. This is in fact how most lotteries are conducted in other countries, including many developing ones.

Greater transparency is also needed from lottery operations and we do not just mean the telecasts of lottery draws. The public does have the right to know how their lottery money is spent. This is especially so with the Right to Information laws coming in from next month. For example, the Govisetha lottery is intended to help agriculture, but no one knows how much of the income has actually gone to agriculture per year or what kind of projects have been completed with the funds. Such information should be published in the newspapers. Then even the losers (they are in the majority anyway) can take heart in the fact that their money has gone towards a good cause.

The public should also be allowed to submit their ideas for such “good causes” that can be completed with lottery funds. The UK’s National Lottery run by the Camelot Group has pioneered this concept whereby various health, development, educational, cultural and community projects are supported through lottery-generated funds. The possibility of starting such a concept in Sri Lanka should be explored. Most Sri Lankans love to try their luck at the lottery kiosk, but they will be luckier if their money goes for more good causes.