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Karnataka plans online lottery

Madhumathi D.S.

BANGALORE, July 15

GUESS what the country's most IT-branded State is gambling on now -- electronic lottery, no less.

Starting this year-end, some 10,000 of these kiosks are expected to be set up across Karnataka for those who would not mind wagering a few bucks to swing their fortunes.

Online lottery was more than just gambling, according to Mr Vivek Kulkarni, IT Secretary. He also thinks of it as a way to increase penetration of infotech among the masses, just as IT services training is trying to do so.

The e-lottery terminals would be private run and would double up as cyber cafes for Net surfers, he said.

The process for setting up these kiosks has already been set in motion. The Department of Small Savings & Lottery recently called for a tender and nearly two dozen companies have expressed their interest to install, operate and maintain the e-cafes. Natu rally these would first come up in urban areas that are already in the optical fibre or satellite loop.

Bidders with high networth of at least Rs 2,000 crore have been invited to run the show. The tender will be finalised in August. These companies will also market the lottery just as it is being done by manual vendors now.

In Karnataka's `vice versus enterprise' wisdom, its lottery scheme as it exists is, in any case, one of the popular and profitable State businesses.

The electronic version would be in addition to it. While it would create jobs and add a few more crores of revenue for the exchequer, Mr Kulkarni said it could also enable more people from remote areas to access lotteries online and rake in small fortune s.