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| Sunday, 28 November 2004 |
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Now, lottery sellers stage strike by Rohan Mathes National Lotteries Board (NLB) and the Development Lotteries Board (DLB) lottery sales agents islandwide staged a one-day token strike and handed over a memorandum to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse at his office last afternoon demanding the closure of NLB managed On-Line Lotteries (Pvt) Ltd. The United Lottery Sales Agents Union Chairman H.N.M.S. Herath told the Sunday Observer that the strike and picketing campaign by the lottery sales agents was arranged with the objective of drawing attention of the government and the general public to the severe drain of public money overseas to Norway and USA by 'On-line' lotteries managed by the NLB. "The one-day strike would cost Rs.350 lakhs in revenue loss to the NLB and DLB by the cancellation of the 'Supiri' and the 'Shannida' lotteries normally held on Saturdays", he said. Herath pointed out that although all other lotteries such as Govisetha, Mahajana Sampatha, Lotto, Jayaviru and Vasana Sampatha among others contribute immensely to the development of the country in diverse ways, the 'On-line' lottery only contributes 2 per cent of earnings to the Treasury. In contrast, other lotteries contributed over 47 per cent on the prices, 8 per cent to the Board and the balance to the Treasury. They also contribute to the generation of employment in a formidable manner, as opposed to the 'on-line' lottery. "This 'On-line' lottery generates a winner every seven minutes for a minimum payment of Rs.30. It is a lottery similar to a 'Jackpot' and it does not conform to our moral, social and cultural standards. We have found from a recent survey that these 'on-line' outlets are strategically and deliberately stationed close to schools and temples,", he opined. Herath further said that the 'On-line' lottery is operated by 'Nosktipping' lottery Company, an organisation run by the Norwegian Government. "We are also protesting against another 'On-line' lottery operating company, Aitken Spence GPEC Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, managed by Harry Jayawardena", Herath added. |
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