Govtech

Government of Meghalaya launches country’s first fully digital lottery

The Government of Meghalaya launched EasyLottery.in, India’s first fully digital lottery in the presence of Conrad Sangma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya; Pravin Bakshi (IAS), Commissioner & Secretary – ERTS, Meghalaya State; M. S. N. Marak, Director of Meghalaya State Lottery and other dignitaries. The website also went live on the occasion. In the Big 50 draw, with the first prize of INR 50,00,00,000/-, (fifty crores) EasyLottery.in promises to be a game changer in terms of giving a seamless and transparent lottery experience; right from buying tickets to prize money disbursals.

Conrad Sangma lauded the endeavours being made towards bringing in more transparency and professionalism to the lottery sector by giving it an end-to-end digital touch. Sangma also noted that as lottery is purely a game of chance, a transparent digital option such as EasyLottery.in allows individuals and society to benefit. Many Indians today are losing their valuable time to online games and illegal betting apps that are designed to be addictive. So an environment that does not compromise on the fun and benefit society, in his words, ensures that EasyLottery.in is designed to make and not break. When you win a prize, you are able to benefit from it and if you lose, the taxes paid on it are sown back into society and the country benefits.

Despite having a population as large as ours and being one of the most digitally empowered countries in the world, India has had a pronounced gap in its lottery sector until now. With the launch of EasyLottery.in, we are trying to bridge this gap — M. S. N. Marak, Director of Meghalaya State Lottery

Commenting on the launch, M. S. N. Marak said, “Despite having a population as large as ours and being one of the most digitally empowered countries in the world, India has had a pronounced gap in its lottery sector until now. With the launch of EasyLottery.in, we are trying to bridge this gap. Our ticket sales, prize payments and tax payments will be done digitally. The only aspect of our cycle from sale to prize disbursement that is not done digitally is the lottery draw itself. This is because we have opted to use the most trusted and transparent methodology, which is the motorised method where the machine cannot be manipulated and therefore the draw outcomes are purely based on chance.”

With EasyLottery.in, we are focusing on three characteristic aspects…trust, transparency and legality. We are bringing it to the people of the country after extensive and intensive research. This innovative platform will revolutionise the way lottery is played in India — Pravin Bakshi (IAS), Commissioner & Secretary – ERTS, Meghalaya State

“With EasyLottery.in, we are focusing on three characteristic aspects…trust, transparency and legality. We are bringing it to the people of the country after extensive and intensive research. This innovative platform will revolutionise the way lottery is played in India, and will also eliminate any kind of scam or money laundering that is associated with the lottery sector. EasyLottery.in will put the society and its people first, without compromising on the fun element for lottery enthusiasts and the benefits for the government,” adds Pravin Bakshi.

EasyLottery.in wishes to be unique in terms of its steadfastness to the mission of responsible lottery. The systems are programmed in such a way that it can detect a person on a losing streak, but who is continually purchasing more tickets; and automatically suspend their account temporarily. This is to ensure that the customers are trying their luck in a safe and limited capacity. Winning streak accounts will not be suspended, even temporarily.

The core thought process is that winners should benefit from the prizes, but should it reach a point where they start displaying addiction or dependency tendencies, we are able to step in and help. In an effort to prevent money laundering, EasyLottery.in ensures that only the buyer of the winning ticket is the recipient of the prize with its ‘non-transferable ticket’ policy.

Tickets, Pricing & Prizes

In an effort to put the citizens of the country first and create a win-win situation for all stakeholders, EasyLottery.in also ensures that the intermediary costs are negligible. The ticket purchasing technique also offers three selection options to the player to choose what suits them best, as follows.

Option 1: Random Selection, where the ticket number is randomly selected by the system

Option 2: Total Sum Selection, where one can choose a digit from one to nine, wherein the sum of the digits of the ticket number will be the number one chooses

Option 3: Complete Selection, wherein buyers will have the freedom to choose the exact ticket number(s) they like

EasyLottery.in will have the highest odds of winning various large prizes including the first prize of INR 50,00,00,000/-, which is the largest ever first prize in the history of lotteries in India. Each ticket is priced at INR 5,000/-, much lower than even international lotteries. The lottery guarantees a first prize for every draw and the winner is determined in a one-letter and four-digit draw method with just 2,60,000 tickets in the draw.

Navanwita Bora Sachdev

Navanwita is the editor of The Tech Panda who also frequently publishes stories in news outlets such as The Indian Express, Entrepreneur India, and The Business Standard