Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency: To strengthen the state's financial position and augment the government's own revenue, the 'West Bengal State Lottery' is set to be relaunched. Deliberations regarding the formal revival of this lottery began immediately following the presentation of the new government's budget in the Legislative Assembly on June 22. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has already instructed the Finance Department to take the necessary steps in this regard. According to sources at Nabanna (the State Secretariat), drawing lessons from past experiences, the Chief Minister has imposed a specific condition this time around. He has explicitly directed that measures must be taken to ensure that any tickets remaining unsold in the market are, under no circumstances, included in the lottery draw or game.
The Chief Minister argues that, currently, various agencies from outside the state are conducting thriving lottery businesses within the state after obtaining 'No Objection Certificates' from the state government. Consequently, a substantial portion of the profits is flowing out to other states, causing a detriment to West Bengal's own exchequer. In light of this situation, the Chief Minister has raised the pertinent question: why shouldn't the state itself manage this business to generate revenue, rather than relying on agencies from other states? It is for this very reason that the process of bringing this profitable enterprise back under direct government control has been initiated.
In the past, the state government itself regularly organized weekly and special festive lotteries. Up until the 2017-18 financial year, the Lottery Department of the West Bengal government conducted a total of 48 weekly draws and 6 special 'bumper' draws. These included 12 weekly draws under the name 'Bangalakshmi Super,' 12 under 'Bangabhumi Super,' and 24 under the name 'Bangalakshmi.' Additionally, during major festivals such as Diwali or Rath Yatra, 'Bumper Lotteries' were organized, featuring an attractive first prize of ₹1 crore. At that time, to ensure affordability for the common people, the price of weekly tickets was kept at a mere ₹2 and ₹5, while tickets for the bumper series were priced at ₹10. According to official data, these weekly lotteries generated a gross annual ticket sale of ₹66 crore, bringing in a net revenue of ₹17.81 crore to the government's coffers.
Subsequently, the popularity of the lottery continued to grow, and starting in May 2018, daily draws for the state lottery were introduced. The benefits of this initiative were immediate and tangible. During the 2018-19 fiscal year, the Lottery Department generated revenue of ₹223 crore for the state exchequer by selling tickets worth over ₹1,000 crore. Furthermore, in the 2019-20 fiscal year, a robust avenue for government revenue—amounting to nearly ₹300 crore—had been established. However, despite possessing such a golden opportunity for substantial revenue generation, the West Bengal State Lottery was abruptly shut down in March 2020 for reasons that remain undisclosed. Subsequently, with the aim of boosting revenue, the government issued tenders to entrust the 'West Bengal State Lottery' brand to private entities; yet, these efforts failed to elicit the anticipated response. Consequently, this profitable government lottery remained completely suspended for four long years—a venture that is now poised to make a fresh start.