By Upatissa Pethiyagoda –

Dr. Upatissa Pethiyagoda

Humans are irresistibly attracted to gambling. Despite moral, cultural or religious reservations, many Governments conduct or encourage the practice of gaming. Our Country is no exception, and even has Boards like the National Lotteries Board and Mahapola Scholarships Lottery, to exploit this natural impulse. The State now conducts several weekly lotteries, – often with tantalizingly innovative titles. Some religions expressly forbid all forms of gaming and gambling. But we, who even have separate Ministries to ‘protect’ each of our religions – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, yet proceed undeterred by this flagrant violation of a basic tenet. Gambling generates much tax revenue, so why not?                                                                    

There is a more insidious aspect to this corruption of society. The fact is that those most attracted or addicted, by the lure of instant bonanzas, are those least able to afford them. That is the poorer and less literate sectors. The more affluent and educated, perhaps know better! Is this any different from the State promoting other forms of vice? This is revenue collection at the price of peoples’ misery.

The measures that Singapore for example, adopts to protect their citizens from attraction by this vice, are worthy of imitation.

There is another aspect to which I have drawn attention before. This is the probability of winning. In private gaming operations (such as Horse Racing), one understands that the laws require that some thirty percent of gate collections are paid out as winnings. How do our State Lotteries compare?

I have attempted, with my limited math, to examine a typical Lottery. This one requires the top winner, to hold a ticket with six correct numbers that surface in the draw. Each number being drawn from a total pool of sixty numbers. It is similar in this respect to the popular and harmless party game of “Tombola”. I was staggered by the result of my inexpert calculation. The chance of an all correct draw, according to my computation, is one out of several millions. A ticket is now priced at Twenty Rupees, (earlier ten, and =/50 cents at the start), is still a massive amount of money! I wish that those persons more comfortable with numbers, may work out the probabilities.

The offer of prize money of a few million, with the grand offer of the carry- over of money that is not awarded at the preceding draw, is not as grand as it looks at first glance. I reckon that the chance of a win is one in untold millions! It is more than justified that a more competent mathematician be commissioned to re-work the figures. It cannot be that the Boards are unaware of them. If so, they should be kicked out forthwith.

My inferences are beyond belief: being several millionths of one percent! Can we consider this as reasonable? It is possibly illegal as well. Is this not a major rip-off, unworthy of any State?

Of course these extortions provide fertile fields for fraudulent practices. Our national talent for robbing public money, is perhaps unsurpassed. In this case, there are several points at which leaks could be disguised. The hauls could be astronomical. Wherever there is a lot of money, there is a grasping hand of crookery to grab it.

Older readers would remember that the first state involvement in Lotteries, was as the Hospital Lottery. The declared and laudable aim, was to use the profits to build new hospitals, or to refurbish existing ones. To my knowledge, nothing of the sort has ever happened. The declared and lofty aim, has quietly disappeared.

Likewise, none of the promises of other benevolence have materialized, while instead many new lotteries have sprouted recklessly. This is such that there is now at least one draw every day of the year. Add to this the popular and ever present ‘Lotto,’ and you have a diet to suit every palate- a meal fit even for royalty. These State lotteries are unashamedly, no more than merely glorified gambling.

A disastrous recent development is the invasion of gambling in various innovative ways, into the hitherto untainted and sanctified realm of sports. Generally, receiving money for cricket, damages its image as “the game of kings”. With revelations of widespread pollution, the screws have tightened. Consequently, even some top class cricketers of the past, were implicated as have secretly received money, for adapting their play to conform to the gaming requirements of their paymasters. Several top players have suffered penalties – some even being suspended for life from representative cricket. Milder punishments have included fines, withholding of fees, or shorter periods of suspension.

The recent introduction of the League form (IPL and PPL formats) has changed matters greatly, becoming hugely popular, attracting massive numbers of paying spectators. The monies collected have to be enormous. Even allowing for the necessary operational costs, such as printing of tickets, publicity costs, staff salaries, security, agents and retailers commissions, and the costs normally incurred by any institution, still leaves a hefty margin. Where does all this fortune go?