The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Kerala government’s ban on online lotteries in the state .A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justices R.K.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Kerala government’s ban on online lotteries in the state .A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justices R.K. Agrawal and Arun Misra rejected the contention of the online operators that the state cannot discriminate between paper lotteries and online lotteries since Kerala had not banned the sale of paper lotteries. The bench said while paper lotteries’ draws are held once in a week, the online lotteries are conducted in violation of the Lotteries Act by holding draws every 15 minutes and luring gullible public. Under the scheme of online lotteries, a number of lotteries are run simultaneously. So, 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 purchase of tickets repeatedly, till all his savings are exhausted. So, if the government takes a decision in public interest to prohibit online lotteries, this court should not interfere with the said decision unless there are compelling grounds,” the bench said.
“It is common case that lottery is a species of gambling. Gambling is considered as a pernicious vice by all civilized societies from time immemorial. The Rigvedas, Smritis and Arthashastras have condemned gambling as a vice. Several Judges and learned authors are unanimous in their condemnation of gambling. Experience has shown that the common forms of gambling are comparatively innocuous when placed in contrast with 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.
“we are of the considered opinion that State of Kerala was well within its rights to prohibit the sale of online or internet lotteries in its State and there is no fault in it.
The apex court bench dismissed the appeals filed by online lotteries operators mostly from Sikkim. The Sikkim government had defended the online lotteries in Kerala saying it as a major sources of income for the impoverished State.
The Kerala High Court had on May 23, 2006, upheld the ban imposed by the State aggrieved by which the online operators had moved the apex court in 2007.
“The lotteries conducted by these online companies have draws in every 15 minutes. Technically, they call it ‘weekly lotteries’ in order to circumvent the objectives of the Act, the bench added.
