Heated debate in P’ment over online lottery project

Thursday, 20 March 2014 00:52 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Ashwin Hemmathagama Our Lobby Correspondent The green light given to Oceanic Games Ltd. to launch an online lottery scheme in Sri Lanka, a country where all religious institutions sideline betting and gambling, heated the House yesterday. Opposition lawmaker JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake raised doubts over the success of this new online lottery scheme “which is not a novelty to Sri Lankans,” where a previous attempt in 2003 “led the National Lotteries Board to incur a loss of Rs. 8,000 million”. Warning that the Government was leading the younger generation into a new type of addiction and the country to disaster, MP Dissanayake said: “The lottery is named Ogame. The company is located at No.46/46, Green Lanka Towers, Nawam Mawatha, Colombo 2, but has vested interests in Malaysia and Georgia. This particular online lottery is more or less similar to a casino. But the authorities including the Ministry of Finance have failed to observe its nature.” MP Dissanayake demanded that the Government disclose details of the approval given to Oceanic Games Ltd. to start the online lottery scheme Ogame, the names of the directors and the details of the local partners, the initial investment and the subsequent plans, the regulatory measures followed to launch an online lottery in Sri Lanka, the details of Cabinet approval and the action taken to prevent possible frauds. “The last online lottery, which was a venture under the National Lotteries Board, was launched during the UNP Government. It lacked transparency. Ultimately it defaulted Rs. 37.5 million to the Department of Inland Revenue, avoided paying taxes to Sri Lanka Customs for importing 500 machines, neglected a Court order related to hiring employees and defaulted US$ 123,000 to the Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, in addition to the dues to many other State and private sector institutions,” he revealed. In response, Minister of International Monetary Co-operation and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Sarath Amunugama said: “The online lottery schemes were introduced to Sri Lanka during the UNP regime with a basic deposit of Rs. 490 million. Norsk Tipping, a Norwegian venture, was the first to launch it in partnership with the National Lotteries Board. Subsequently, Norsk Tipping issued Rs. 790 million worth of shares to the National Lotteries Board and also obtained a loan for Rs. 200 million. Altogether the National Lotteries Board lost Rs.990 million.” Joining the Government response, Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade Johnston Fernando stated that the online lottery would help to increase the Mahapola Student Subsidy. “This is not a lottery established by the private sector, but a support extended to the Government. We have learnt from the failures of the UNP regime’s online lotteries,” he assured.

MPs’ dig at drugs forces Speaker to suspend session

Parliament was suspended yesterday for over 15 minutes as a result of the heated arguments between ruling party and opposition based on a motion UNP MP Joseph Michael Perera moved sighting the “government’s inability to eradicate the drug menace and its involvement.” Even though the motion was presented in the house for the purpose of discussion as a definite matter of urgent public importance, Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa vetoed it citing his consent having not been obtained. However, the opposition MP resorting to section “C” of the Standing Order 17 (2) tried to move on with the support extended by twenty members. In his motion, MP Perera said: “The Government has no way of eradicating the drug menace. The Government is engaged in drug trafficking and have also failed to identify those who are engaged in it. As a result Sri Lanka has been identified as an international centre for drug trafficking by international media. In the absence of Government action we suggest seeking the United Nations to establish a system to eradicate the drug menace in Sri Lanka. We also suggest that the Police, Customs, and the Attorney Generals Departments be free from influence and intrusions, and the Judiciary not be pressured. We recommend enforcing the 17th Amendment, which will empower these institutions.”