The Department
of State Lotteries started functioning from August 1967
and extraordinary brilliance of late P.K.Kunju Sahab, then
Finance Minister gave birth to this idea.
The Late Sayed Mohammed was the first Director of the Department
of state lotteries. Formerly he was the Director of Treasuries.
All the preliminary actions for the setting up of Department
was initiated under his guidance. During 1967,when the Department
was formed, it was under the administrative control of the
Department of Finance in Government. Later it was brought
under the control of Taxes Department.
The main objective behind the formation of this department
was to protect the poor and common man from the exploitation
of the illegal private lotteries that flourished in the
state at that time. Right from the very inception of the
Kerala State Lotteries, it has proved to be a major source
of non-tax revenue to the state exchequer. Now the major
source of non-tax revenue of the Kerala Government is from
this department.
