MOSCOW, December 27 - RAPSI, Dmitry Shchitov. The commercial court on Tuesday granted the Sport Ministry's claim against the Orglot lottery operator for $63 million, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) reports from the courtroom.

The dispute centers on a state contract signed on November 22, 2006 for an all-Russia online lottery.

The sports authority established Gosloto lottery in 2006 and chose Orglot as its operator. Under the contract Orglot is obligated to pay at least 50 percent of its income into the prize pool, and 15 percent to finance the physical culture and sport development program for 2006-2015.

The lottery paid over 2 billion rubles ($63 million) into the budget in 2006-2010.

In July 2010 the Audit Chamber stated that it deems the sports authority to have overestimated the 26.9 billion ruble ($849 million) proceeds from the Gosloto Lottery earmarked for the program. In the chamber's view such income is economically unreasonable.