( 1 ) LOTTERY is - `a chance for a prize for a price; a scheme for the distribution of a prize or prizes by lot or chance, the number and value of which is determined by the operator of lottery. Essential elements of a lottery are consideration, prize and chance and any scheme or device by which a person for a consideration is permitted to receive a prize or nothing as may be determined predominantly by chance , so defines the Black s Law Dictionary (6th Edn, p. 947 ).

( 2 ) IT goes on to say- "an unlawful gambling scheme in which (a) the players pay or agree to pay something of value for chances, represented and differentiated by numbers or by combinations of numbers or by some other media, one or more of which chances are to be designated the winning ones; and (b) the winning chances are to be determined by a drawing or by some other method based upon the element of chance; and (c) the holders of the winning chances are to receive something of value. "

( 3 ) LOTTERY is a game of chance and hence like gambling it is a vice. Gambling is as old as the human ingenuity itself. So is the history of attempts at controlling if not preventing the evil. The expression `betting and gambling included and has always been understood to have included the conduct of lotteries. That is Entry No. 34 of List-II of Seventh Schedule. However, lotteries organised by the Govt of India or the Govt of a State have been included in Entry No. 40 of List-I of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

( 4 ) `gambling ( Dyuta) has been considered as a pernicious vice in all the works of Dharmashastras, but the instinct of gambling among individuals appears to have been in existence from very ancient times. . . . Mahabharatha ( Udyogparv 37-19) states that it has been common experience that vice of gambling has generated great enmities in ancient times and therefore it is not wise to resort to gambling even in jest or for amusement". 3. 1 Referring to Mahabharata P. V. Kane states :

" Conceding, for the sake of argument, that indulgence in gambling even on the part of such a virtuous, noble and philosophic warrior as Yudhishitra was justified or at least excusable, there is nothing to show that the code of Kshatriya chivalry permitted him to gamble away his own spirited, devoted and virtuous queen and his four valiant brothers. It appears that the real aim of the great author of the Mahabharata is to emphasise that gambling is such a reprehensible pastime and so ruinous and degrading that even the greatest and the best, when once they indulge in it, lose all sense of duty, morality and the claims of love and affection. It has already been seen how gambling was looked upon as a great vice in the king by writers on politics and also the Dharmasastras. Even the Puranas here and there condemn gambling. For example, the Brahmapurana ( 171. 29-38) condemns it in strong language. It says that the gambler s wife is always in distress and the gambler, on seeing the condition of his wife, is also worried ( this is in almost the same words as Rg. X. 34, 10-11), the Vedas condemn gambling and that there is no sin comparable to gambling. " (History of Dharmashastra, Vol III. p. 542)3. 2 The earlier Smritis and Puranas, were unanimous in condemning the vice of gambling and in advising that it should be prohibited. However, the later Smritis made provision for regulating gambling and betting. The writers of these Smritis appear to have come to the conclusion that the instinct to indulge in gambling and betting was so powerful and deep-rooted in human beings that prohibition was impossible and that total prohibition would only lead to such persons indulging in gambling and betting secretly, and not to the eradication of the vice. Therefore, they adopted the line that what cannot be prohibited must be regulated at least, so as to reduce its evil effects. " 3. 3 "gambling has been prohibited by Manu on the ground that it destroys truth, honesty and wealth. Bu