Mah govt to tax lotteries for additional revenue

Mumbai, July 26 (UNI) Maharashtra Government today decided to revise taxes on lottery schemes from the State as well as outside, with a view to check the rampant growth in lotteries and garner more revenue to the exchequer.

After the weekly Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told mediapersons here that despite the demand for banning lotteries, the State Government faced a legal hurdle because it could not ban lotteries from other States in its jurisdiction.

''We decided to revise levy of taxes because it would generate more revenue. At present the revenue is Rs 27 crore and is expected to be about Rs 150 crore, from this decision,'' Mr Deshmukh said.

The State Cabinet also approved the draft of the Ordinance regarding the revision of taxes.

For weekly lottery schemes, the lottery taxes will be Rs 50,000, for fortnightly lottery schemes, the taxes will be Rs one lakh, Rs two lakh for monthly lotteries and for jackpot lotteries the taxes will be Rs 10 lakh, he said.

Presently, there are over 2,500 lotteries from different lottery schemes and with the implementation of the new tax regime the number is expected to come down between 100-250.

It has also been decided to keep the timing of lottery draws between 1600 to 2100 hrs every day.

Similarly, a license fee of Rs 500 per lottery terminal will also be levied. The necessary rules and regulations will be formulated for the implementation, he added.

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