Court stays ban on lotteries in Karnataka

The JD (S)-BJP coalition in Karnataka suffered a setback yesterday when Karnataka High Court stayed the ban imposed by the Government on sale of lotteries in the State.

Hearing a batch of writ petitions filed against the ban on lotteries, the High Court ordered a stay on the grounds that the Government had not made any alternate arrangements for the more than 150,000 people engaged in business of selling lotteries.

The Karnataka State Lottery Dealers’ Association and the Gaming Federation, besides the states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh had filed writ petitions questioning the Karnataka Government’s decision to ban lotteries.

The ban on lotteries came into force from April 1 this year. But, the stay order issued by the High Court yesterday will allow the lottery sellers to resume their business.

The Lottery Dealers’ Association in its writ petition had pointed out that the Government had banned sale of lotteries in Karnataka without providing alternative source of employment to the lottery sellers many of whom are physically handicapped persons.

The High Court had stayed the ban and issued a notice to Karnataka Government in the regard.