Sri Lanka’s Department of Public Enterprises (PED) annual report that was recently released to parliament points out that National Lotteries Board (NLB’s) turnover has decreased by 18% from Rs. 19.42 billion recorded in 2016 to Rs. 16.01 billion in 2017.

The report outlines that the revenue had decreased largely due to the decrease in lottery sales during first few months of 2017, resulted by the increase of lottery price from Rs. 20 to Rs. 30 as a consequence of imposition of excise duty.

According to the report Prizes declared by NLB too has reduced by 18% to Rs. 7,995 million in 2017 from Rs. 9,723 recorded in 2016. NLB has contributed Rs. 2,017 million to the Consolidated Fund in 2017 which is also a decrease of 18% compared to 2016.

“During the first quarter of 2017, NLB has achieved only a 65% of the budgeted sales whereas the difference between budgeted and the estimated sales was almost Rs. 1,827 million (Rs. 1.82 billion)” the report adds in its review. NLB has an island wide agency network of around 3,000 agents and dealers.

The PED in its’ review had recommended that in order to go in line with the objectives of the NLB, while increasing the contribution to the Consolidated Fund, the entity should improve the strategies necessary for increasing the revenue and reduction of the cost.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis