There is one thing you can always count on – governments are always looking for new ways to earn money. One way that they have found the greatest success is by taxing those things that men and women love to do most. The vices are the premium way to earn some extra money, and that proved to be the case in Manipur where it was announced early last week that the lottery would be reintroduced.
Deputy Chief Minister Yumnam Joykumar announced that the lottery system would be re-implemented in Manipur, India, expecting that over Rs 100 cr will be collected annually from the reintroduction of lottery sales.
Some details still need to be worked out. This includes whether lottery tickets will be sold only inside the state or will be available outside as well. There is even a proposal that the lottery would only be available to those outside of the state of Manipur.
Since the introduction of GST in July 2017, Jaykumar reported that Rs 857.89 crore had been collected as revenue to the state. This has buoyed many officials within the region to look to reintroduce the lottery system as a means to add additional revenue.
However, lotteries are not always as successful as one would think. According to the recent reports, the Swedish government saw its lottery sales decline in 2018. This despite the fact that overall gambling in the country was up by 1.5% overall. Online casino and sports betting gambling both saw an over 11% increase in overall revenue, but the lottery sales fell by 2.7% nationally. This came on the heels of an increase in the legalization of gambling across the country.
Despite the negative results in some countries, Manipur clearly sees this as an opportunity for them to raise significant revenue. Assuming it rakes in the tax revenue that Joykumar is hoping for, it might be a positive sign for other gambling legalization efforts in the country.
