All closed down
Uttar Pradesh Minister of Industrial Development Satish Mahana made this clear while replying to another BJP member in the state assembly.
BJP MLA Harshvardhan Bajpai wanted to know if, like in Goa, the state government will consider providing licences to casinos to boost tourism, increase tax revenue and eliminate illegal gambling rackets.
“No, a casino is a certain type of gambling facility. By giving licences to casinos, it will become difficult to prevent gambling, betting and lotteries legally”, the minister replied.
He believed licensing casinos would promote such activities and have a negative impact on people’s “economic and moral condition” and on law and order.
However, the MLA argued that gambling is known to take place in the state during the IPL cricket season and people also go to Nepal for betting.
He thought offering licences to run casinos will generate revenue for the state when these activities are even now being carried out illegally.
Responding to Bajpai’s query, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said it would not be possible to allow gambling, ‘satta’ and lottery in UP as it would encourage activities which would not be good for society.
The CM’s observation comes in the midst of the Indian central government’s plans to ban online lottery system. The GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council, which met last year in September, also had an intense debate on lottery rates that has divided states with some favouring the current scheme of a lower rate for state-run lotteries, and a higher levy on state-sponsored ones.
In 2015, an apex court ruling allowed state governments to ban the sale of lottery. The Supreme Court, in fact, refused to recognise the right to sell lottery as a fundamental right. Except in 13 states, the sale of lottery is banned in all others. Lotteries are hugely popular in the states of Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
Meghalaya, Manipur, Sikkim, Nagaland and Mizoram.
The ban on lotteries started around the turn of the century, when social activists raised serious concerns about people getting addicted to gambling leading to the ruin of entire families. Though lotteries provided good revenue to the states, the social cost was deemed too high to continue.
The BJP government in Goa allows operation of licensed casinos but it banned local residents from visiting them in a recent order.
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