Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 26:
Even as lottery games of all sorts have been banned in Imphal and other parts of the State, lottery games of two and three digits known as 'Che Lottery' drawn in Thailand are thriving well in the border town of Moreh without any inhibition from any quarter.
Despite a majority of the people have been absorbed by the lottery games and their hard earned money wasted, there has been no initiative from the State police to check such economically draining gambling on lottery games.
On the other hand, the helpless parents and elders of the border town are incensed at the free run given to the lottery agents.
Che lottery is based in Thailand and its results are given in the Thailand I TV channel which is telecast in Myanmar TV everyday at 3:30 pm.
The two digit games are drawn every day except Sunday while the three digit games are drawn every fortnight.
A winner of a two digit lottery game gets Rs 350 with a ticket of Rs 5 while the winner of a three digit game gets Rs 2500 from a ticket of Rs 5.The two digit lottery games are drawn from among numbers from 0 to 99 while those of three digits are drawn from 000 to 999.Che Lottery tickets are sold in more than 40 places at Moreh.
Each stall can sell all its tickets by 1/1:30 pm starting from early morning.
After this, the customers would go inside Myanmar to enquire about the results of the day's lottery games.
All the denizens of Moreh including women and children have been so absorbed by these lottery games that it has become an inevitable daily routine for these peoples of the border town.
Even daily wage earners who are the sole bread winners of their families have fallen under the spell of the Che Lottery.
Forgetting that his/her family would forgo the day's meals if their tickets do not win, these wage earners would spend their hard earned money on these lottery tickets.
Further, some people spend huge amount of money booking large number of tickets against the digits of their choices just like a big game of gambling.
On the other hand, the same lottery games are prohibited in Myanmar and accordingly the Myanmarese Govt stringently forbids playing these lottery games in its territory.
These lottery games were prohibited some time back after a ban was imposed.
However, recently the same lottery games have resurfaced again and has become a part of the lives of the Moreh people.
Recalling the number of families and individuals ruined by one digit lottery games in Imphal some years back, some sections of the Moreh people conveyed their apprehension of the same fate befalling the people of Moreh as a majority of the people including women, children and wage earners have fallen under the spell of Che Lottery in their pursuit of easy money.
They further appealed to all concerned to ban these lottery games before it is too late.