Kohima, May 30: The scam-tainted Nagaland state lottery has packaged itself in a jazzy new avatar. Complete with French computers and hi-tech lotto machines set in a studio with a bottom-lit floor, it is ready with a glitzy Las Vegas-casino look.

In 1998, the lottery department was embroiled in an alleged scam of Rs 38,000 crore, which the new government had promised to investigate. But by the look of things now, the bitterness has disappeared as the lottery department sets about raking in the moolah for the cash-starved state treasury.

For starters, online lottery has begun in a big way — with daily draws from May 25 in place of the earlier weekly ones. This will go hand-in- hand with conventional paper lottery for which 34 new schemes have been drawn up.

Moreover, with a marketing tie-up with CAIRS (Computer-Aided Information and Research Services Private Limited) which manages Fortune Lottery, one of the foremost online companies, the future of lottery in the state looks bright.

CAIRS, which is now the sole distributor of online lottery, has promised the government Rs 20-25 crore remittance this financial year, apart from the Rs 10 lakh already in the state’s remittance account, sources in the lottery department said.

The department had signed an agreement with Fortune way back in May 2000, and a revision was also made in 2001. But the official launch was only on December 23, 2002. Since then till May 25, 2003 weekly draws were being conducted.

An ad film on online lottery is also on the offing. The film, to be canned by an international ad agency, will be shot in some of the most scenic locales of the state.

The government is now banking on a daily online jackpot of Rs 2 crore. Ironically though, Nagaland is the lowest grosser in terms of sale. “Lottery sells mostly in states like Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra,” said C.R. Lotha, director of the state lottery department.

The projected government share from online lottery sales for 2003-2004 is Rs 50,645 and Rs 2.12 lakh for the next financial year. Earlier, the average annual profit of the department was around Rs 10 crore with an establishment cost of less than Rs 50 lakh.

But even with just 10 per cent of share of gross sales from the online lottery, the government hopes to “earn a lot”.