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Nagpur News.
It is certainly a height of laziness and carelessness. A whopping Rs 1.11 crore prize amount of Maharashtra Lottery has not been claimed by the winners in the past three years!! Citizens purchase lottery tickets in the hope of becoming “Lakhpati” overnight. But even after winning the prizes and not claiming the amounts is beyond imagination of any sane person! It is just laziness and carelessness. And the outcome of this unimaginable aspect is that the entire amount has gone back to Maharashtra Government exchequer.
THE DRAWS:
This shocking information was revealed in a reply to an RTI query filed by social worker and an activist Abhay Kolarkar. Kolarkar had sought information about the status of Maharashtra Lottery from the Lottery Department from April 2010 to June 2013 period. The reply stated that Government spent Rs 2.28 crore on lottery advertisements in the above-mentioned period and earned a profit of Rs 22.18 crore. During the three-year period, the Lottery Department conducted 19 Maha Bumper Draws. But nobody emerged winners on four occasions. Similarly, the total amount to be paid on Bumper Draws stood at Rs 20.12 crore and 792 persons bagged the prizes out of which 755 winners claimed the prizes. They were paid Rs 7.55 crore. A total of approximately 28 crore tickets were sold during the period including 26.91 crore of weekly draws, 1.44 crore tickets of Bumper Draws and 20 lakh tickets of monthly draws. The distributors and agents across the Maharashtra were paid commission to the tune of Rs 8.54 lakh. The weekly draw tickets totaling 7.46 crore were sold in 2010 and revenue of Rs 96.36 crore was earned. This year, a total of 1.11 Bumper Draw tickets were sold and revenue of Rs 20.09 crore was earned by the Maharashtra Government.
