Selling Fortune, Bearing Risk: Socio-Economic, Occupational, and Institutional Vulnerabilities of Itinerant Lottery Vendors in Kerala

This study examines the socio-economic, occupational health, and institutional vulnerabilities of itinerant and street lottery vendors in Kerala, a workforce integral to the state's non-tax revenue apparatus yet largely absent from empirical labour research. Using a structured survey of 160 vendors across urban and semi-urban clusters, the study profiles vendor demographics, financial exposure to unsold-ticket losses, occupational health morbidity, and enrolment in the Kerala Lottery Workers' Welfare Fund Board. The sample skewed toward older age groups (71.9% above 50 years), with substantial representation of vendors reporting disability (36.3%) and heavy dependence on sub-agency credit and informal lenders. A statistically significant negative association was found between monthly unsold-ticket losses and a proxy measure of monthly net savings (r = -.28, p .10), and welfare-fund membership was not significantly predicted by education, experience, or age (pseudo R² = .001, p = .98). These mixed findings suggest welfare exclusion is driven less by individual characteristics than by structural and administrative barriers, and the paper concludes with policy recommendations centred on a risk-buffering mechanism for unsold inventory and simplified enrolment procedures.