Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-02-14

Drafting a New Bill for the National Lotteries Board

- The National Lotteries Board has been established in accordance with the provisions of the Finance Act, No.11 of 1963. As of now, the National Lotteries Board conducts 09 passive lotteries and 02 instant lotteries and the turnover recorded from the lotteries for the year 2015 is Rs.7.5 Billion. The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has pointed out the necessity of amending the Act to rectify the shortcomings identified, to suite the present trends and accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Ravi Karunanayke, the Minister of Finance, to instruct the Legal Draftsman to draft a new Bill for the Lotteries Board including the proposed changes having taken into consideration, the present trends prevailing in the market, was approved by the Cabinet.