• Susil says DLB contributes to Mahapola 

Leader of the House and Minister attorney Dr. Susil Premajayantha said that the decision to increase the price of a lottery ticket by Rs. 20 is timely since the Government is provided funds through the Development Lotteries Board (DLB) to pay the Mahapola bursary required for university students.

Speaking in the Parliament, he expressed these views in response to a question raised by the Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya Leader Sajith Premadasa in the Parliament yesterday (4).

Here, Premadasa said that the Government’s decision to raise the price of a lottery ticket is causing inconvenience to the commoners, and that if it is necessary to increase the income of the institutions, what should be done is not to increase the price of a lottery ticket by oppressing the people, but to stop the unnecessary expenses made by the DLB. Speaking further, he also mentioned that the DLB spends Rs. 6.5 million as rent for the building where the DLB is located, and that instead, if the institution is run in a Government-owned building, unnecessary expenditure can be reduced.

He also said that in 2018, the then Government decided to increase the commission of a lottery seller by 50 cents, but that so far, they have been given only 25 cents. He said that he would request the Government to look into this matter and take necessary measures.

Responding to Premadasa, Dr. Premajayantha said that to date, the price of a lottery ticket has not been increased up to Rs. 40. “To date, the price of a lottery ticket is Rs. 20. No price increase has been reported, but, we believe that there will be an increase in the price in the future, because the DLB provides the necessary funds especially for the Mahapola bursary, so that is also the reason for this proposed price increase,” he said.

However, the National Lotteries Board (NLB) and the DLB have decided to increase the prices of their lottery tickets. Thereby, the price of NLB and DLB lottery tickets will be raised from Rs. 20 to Rs. 40 with effect from today (6).