PUNE, April 16: About 3,000 lottery dealers and agents, including some 500 women, participated in a morcha from Ratan Theatre to the collectorate and ended with the submission of a memorandrun protesting against the Central Government move to ban State-run lotteries.A memorandum listing the problems such a ban would cause in terms of unemployment and revenue loss to the State Government, was submitted to Collector Vijay Kumar Gautam. He promised to deliver it to the Central Government.All 1500 lottery stalls in the city, including Pimpri-Chinchwad, remained shut today to express displeasure over the Central Government move. ``We have written to the Govrnment that besides lottery, there are other means like the races and the share market for people to gamble. Lotteries give the State an annual revenue of Rs 8 crores at 13 per cent sales tax, besides the 40 per cent income tax the Central Government deducts from prizes above Rs 5000,'' said Suresh Sahni, spokesperson for the Pune Lottery Association.The dealers also emphasised that 25 lakh families in the country, including 10 lakh in Maharashtra and 1.5 lakh in Pune iteself would be rendered jobless, if the ban was brought into force. ``Our representatives have met with the leaders of the Congress and the Shiv Sena. They have assured us that if the bill is introduced in the current session, they will oppose it,'' added Sahni.The morcha was lead by Suresh Rupeja, president of the Pune Lottery Association.
