Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel demands nationwide ban on lotteries

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) demanded a nationwide ban on all forms of lotteries i♓n in the upper house🎉 of parliament yesterday.

While raising the matter, Goel said that lotteries leads to the poor꧑ losing their hard earned income and sa💃vings and noted that single digit lotteries were banned in the year 1998 and a new law the Lotteries (Regulation) Act was passed by the parliament.

He however noted that the ban on single digit lotteries is not sufficient and all forms of lotteries, including multi-digit lotteries, that are operating in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab and Karnataka should be b🐷anned and that the central government should 💛introduce a new law ensuring a nationwide ban on lottery sales.

Goel added that efforts were made to ensure a complete ban on lotteries in the year 199꧋8 but the Bill demanding the same could not be passed due to the ‘lottery 💮mafia’, despite signatures and support of 134 MPs.

The BJP MP also added that he does not want to speak about the irregularities in these lotteries but stated that he wanted to eliminate the social evil called lotteries t♎hat is plaguing the country since 1947, and appealed to ꩲall MPs to support his demand for a ban on all kinds of lotteries.

Several MPs cutting across party lines and states, including Ambika Soni (Congress), Manoj Kumar Jha (Rashtriya Janata D🌞al), Ram Kumar Kashyap (BJP) and Sushil Kumar Gupta (Aam Aadmi Party) associated themselves with Goel’s demand and endorsed his zero hour mention.

Vijay Goel, a former union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi cabinets, has been a staunch anti-lottery activist and has lead a cru൲sade against lotteries operating in the countries for the last three decades.

Goel was instrumental in ensuring the passage of the Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998, that resulted in a ban single digit lotteries and imposed strict restrictions on sale of lotterieౠs run by state governm🐬ents.