Only ‘Bhanurai’ Is Getting The Lottery? How? Where Is The Corruption? How Is The Law Being Thumbed?

Even though he was jailed in the cow smuggling case, the prize of one crore rupee in the lottery has increased the discomfort like poison on the cow. We are talking about Birbhum’s ‘Betaj Badsha’ and Trinamool district president Anuvrata Mandal. Meanwhile, BJP All India President Dilip Ghosh has openly alleged that black money is turning white overnight by using the lottery as a tool. The top-level leaders of the ruling party in the state are involved in corruption. Recent data says that it is not only Bengali. Such a picture has been seen in several states.

There are allegations of corruption in Sikkim as well. It is alleged that fraud of 4 thousand 500 crores has taken place in this state. CBI is investigating. Allegedly, this huge loss of the government has been caused by the connivance of the officers of the Sikkim government’s finance department. Some investigative agencies claim that the corruption figures are higher.

Which state is investigating lottery fraud?

ED is probing the lottery scam in Sikkim as well as Kochi. In this case, influential people are accused of winning the first prize in the lottery. ED also seized property worth Rs 409.02 crore in the lottery scam in Kolkata. This money has been confiscated in the first phase. It is alleged that this fraud has been done by adopting old and new methods. The ED started the investigation based on a case filed by the Kolkata Police. The case is now pending before the court. The CBI has started an investigation after the one-crore lottery fair of Birbhum’s Anuvrata Mandal.

What does the law say?

The Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998 governs and regulates the business of lotteries in India. The Act also gives almost equal power to states in the lottery business. All over the country now only one company is the distributor of lotteries. Although as per law there should be more than one distributor. Simply put, lotteries from different states are sold under one brand across the country. Nagaland State Lottery is the highest seller in Bengal. The rest of the Punjab and Sikkim state lotteries are also sold under conventional brand names. About 10 states sell the most lotteries in India. Among them, Bengal is one of the biggest markets.

However, in 2020, the West Bengal government stopped playing its own lottery. As per the law ‘Bumper Lottery’ shall not be played except on special occasions. Also, the ‘Bumper Lottery’ will not be played more than 6 times in a year. The rule says that the money from lottery sales will be credited to the state (any state) treasury. At the same time, the unsold lottery tickets with prizes remain in the government treasury. At the same time, if the lottery law is violated, a case can be filed under the non-bailable clause. The lottery tax money will be used by the government for the development of the state. This is what the law says. The law also states that the information about how many lotteries are being printed and where should be informed to the government. But there is also rigging.

Which way is corruption? GST evasion tools?

According to the sources of various investigative agencies, till 2017, corruption was in unsold tickets. Unsold tickets returned to the distributor would have the highest prize. There is corruption. On investigation, it was found that the award was received by the same proprietary distributor across the country. Meanwhile, some new rules have been made since 2017. GST is applicable on the sale of lottery tickets. 12 percent GST if the state runs the lottery business itself and 28 percent if the government outsources it to an agency. Investigators alleged that a large amount of fraud is happening here. Lottery sales to distributors are understated to evade GST. The rest of the circuit is sold through lottery agents in the market. In this way, the states lose a lot of money.

How is black money white?

Before 2017, in 2016, the CAG published a report on the fraud of hundreds of crores in the Sikkim lottery. It is clear that this fraud is going on due to a lack of adequate government oversight. A distributor is called a ‘marketing agent’. Most of the corruption is going on at the hands of this agent. New methods of corruption have been brought into the field. Distributors spread their agents everywhere. If someone gets a prize of crores, the agent tries to buy him a ticket with the same amount of money. Then those tickets are sold to influencers. The black money is made white by taking the actual prize money (let’s say 1 crore) from them. Distributors put extra money in their pockets. Earlier, the CBI had mentioned such agents in its charge sheet in the lottery scam in South India.