Lu insists she does not advocate halting lottery

Following a remark denouncing the nation's lottery frenzy as a "social mudslide," Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that she did not mean the lottery should be discontinued, but rather that she was just speaking "with her conscience."

The comment -- which Lu made on Saturday -- was interpreted as an indication that the government might rescind its approval of the lottery as it did in 1990 when it made TaipeiBank put a halt to a similar lottery after only three drawings.

In response to the speculation, Lu stressed yesterday that she did not intend to intervene in the government's approval of the lottery. She said she was just encouraging Taiwanese people to "say things, do things and make money with their consciences," instead of dreaming of becoming rich overnight.

Lu said that she hopes the public will carefully consider the issue. "Many countries have a lottery, but Taiwan is too crazy about it," Lu said.

In a move to ease lottery fans' worry that TaipeiBank may stop issuing lottery, Minister of Finance Lee Yung-san (李庸三) yesterday sought to reassure the public that the lottery would continue.

"The lottery is overheated, but it is a temporary phenomenon," Lee said. "It [lottery fever] will fade away after a while."

But he did advise the public to stay focused on work and he asked TaipeiBank to review its advertising policies.

After Lu's comment, Richard Yang (楊瑞東), vice president and general manager of TaipeiBank's lottery department, said that the bank would cooperate if the government were to order it to cancel the lottery.

Enthusiasm over the lottery has drawn fire from critics who claim it encourages gambling and get-rich-quick schemes instead of hard work.

The critics also charge that playing the lottery too much has undesirable side effects such as decreasing productivity.