Goa Minister Supports Legalization Of Matka (Lottery)

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has recently announced a ban on entering casinos in the state from 1 February 2020, but the party’s minister and port minister Lobo still says that the casino should be allowed.

Apart from gambling, there are many other things in the casino like music, entertainment, food, etc. He also said, “Nepal and Sri Lanka have banned their citizens from gambling in casinos. Former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar had amended the state’s gambling law in 2012, with complaints that gambling has ruined people financially. Many people also took personal loans to gamble. He is ready to lose all his money, hoping to get rich quickly. This forced the former CM to amend the law.

Lobo said that Matka, a form of daily lottery, should be legalized in the state. Matka is a popular lottery game in the state and is illegal till now. This resulted in loss of revenue and legalizing the game would help in linking Goa’s revenue collection with GST.

According to Lobo, Matka will be legal today or tomorrow. And there will be no restriction on this. Nobody pays GST on Matka. And the government has suffered heavily. That is why let Matka come under the purview of the law and GST should be applied to it.