Indian Supreme Court supports regional regulation of online lottery

a's Supreme Court has described lottery as "evil" as it ruled that state governments are within their rights to regulate online variants of the product.

A three-judge bench upheld the Kerala government's decision to prohibit the sales of online lottery tickets, declaring that state authorities are indeed able to regulate such offerings.

"The continued prevalence of the popularly known single digit and instant lotteries and the temptation offered by them proved to be the undoing of many families, especially poor daily wagers and low income groups," said the bench.

"In spite of the guidelines issued by the Central Government over a period of time, and also the guidelines issued in the recent past by this Court, the evil has not been totally eliminated."

An appeal against the Kerala decision had been filed by, among others, the All Kerala Online Lottery Dealers Association and the state of Sikkim.

However the Supreme Court said that certain online lottery tickets sold from terminals in the states of Meghalaya, Sikkim and Nagaland had violated the rules by not featuring the imprint logo of state governments and not having been signed by the relevant figure.

The frequency of draws was also criticised, with the use of simultaneous lotteries meaning that drawings can be held more regularly than the permitted one a week.

"By holding several lotteries, there can be several draws with a gap of few minutes in a day and the gullible will remain glued and there is every likelihood of the purchase of tickets repeatedly, until all his savings are exhausted."

"So, if the Government takes a decision in the public interest to prohibit online lotteries, this Court should not interfere with the said decision unless there are compelling grounds."

The bench also felt that lottery was more of a social ill than other forms of gambling.

It added: "Experience has shown that the common forms of gambling are comparatively innocuous when placed in contrast with the widespread pestilence of lotteries.

"The former are confined to a few persons and places, but the latter infests the whole community; it enters every dwelling; it reaches every class; it preys upon the hard earnings of the poor; it plunders the ignorant and the simple".