Illegal lottery trade in Ludhiana causing daily revenue loss of ₹7 crore
Though police have registered FIRs against such accused, the unauthorised trade is causing a revenue loss of about ₹7 crore to the government
The illegal lottery businesses flourishing in Ludhiana are causing the revenue loss of about ₹7 crore to the government with their proprietors running a parallel lottery system.
Though police have registered FIRs against such accused, the unauthorised trade is being run with impunity.
The accused have established their own network and are still issuing hand-written tickets to their customers.
The police had recently arrested seven such men, who were involved in gambling. To deter people from running illegal lottery businesses, the police have also announced attachment of the property from where the trade is being run.
According to sources, the government gets 30% as tax from lottery — including GST and sales tax. In the city, the daily lottery trade goes up to ₹25 crore of which, government earns ₹7 crore as revenue. With the illegal practice in place, the daily sale of government lottery tickets has also gone down to ₹2.5 crore.
Most of the illegal traders are active near Clock Tower market, Samrala Chowk, Dholewal, Chandigarh Road, Janakpuri, Kashmir Nagar and Basti Jodhewal areas.
The police had come down heavily on the illegal lottery business and arrested 95 people under the Gambling Act. The police had also shut their shops after which, they started operating from their houses.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP) (city-1) Gurpreet Singh Sikand said they were keeping tabs on the illegal lottery trade in the city.
“The police had arrested seven people on November 8 in this regard,” he added.
He said most of the accused ran illegal lottery business from rented shops.
“We would now be attaching property with the cases. We have also issued an advisory to property owners to ensure no such activity takes place on their rented spaces,” he added.