By JAMES KILA
ENVIRONMENT and Conservation Minister and Member for Unggai-Bena Benny Allen has called for a total ban on “high-low” lottery game in Eastern Highlands province.
The minister’s statement earlier this week follows a recent increase in the number of high-low gambling houses in Goroka town.
Mr Allen said he was very concerned at the huge number of rural villagers from his electorate converging onto Goroka town in truck loads and spending most of their time playing high-low.
He said many of these villagers were spending the little monies they earned from coffee and garden produce on gambling.
“High-low gambling is literally ripping off small village people their hard-earned cash,” Mr Allen said.
He said such activity could contribute to socio-economic problems, especially in family households and even encourage prostitution, hence, contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Mr Allen added that from observation and numerous reports he had received, high-low lottery had contributed to making rural people lazy.
Goroka town so far has 10 high-low gambling houses, which are located in busy areas and adjacent to rural PMV stops.
The minister is also calling on the Chinese operators of these gambling houses to be responsible and to discontinue their operations because their activity was affecting the income of the rural people.
The minister’s call also came at a time when the National Gaming Control Board advertised a public notice informing all operators of the high-low lottery games that “under the provisions of Section 235 of the Gaming Control Act 2007, all operators are required to apply to the board together with such application fee for approval to continue to conduct operation of the lottery game.”
According to the acting chief executive officer of the National Gaming Control Board Simon Sanagke, as per the notice, said “all approval to conduct lottery games may be approved by the board until such time it delegates to the provincial administration, an urban authority, the power to approve the conduct by any person of an authorised lottery.”