Maharashtra bans online lotteriesOur Regional Bureau / Mumbai March 16, 2006Jayant Patil, finance minister of Maharashtra, today announced a ban on online lotteries and 15-minute draw lotteries.He was replying to a calling attention motion tabled by Congress MLA Chandrakant Chhajed in the state assembly on the issue today. Raising the issue, Chhajed said: "This craze for online lottery is playing havoc with the lives of people from the working class and lower middle class. Even college and school-going students are lured by the attraction of instant money which these lotteries offer."Cutting across party lines, members of NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena supported the demand by Chhajed. Replying to the discussion, Patil said, "If the house is unanimous in its demand for banning online lotteries, the government has no problem in banning such lotteries. However, once the decision is made, you should not come to us for reconsidering the ban, sighting livelihood of the lottery vendors as a reason." Speaking to reporters after the assembly session, Patil said: "Banning online lotteries will cause a loss of Rs 25 crore to the state
