The Ghana Lotto Operators Association (GLOA) and the Concerned Lotto Agents Association of Ghana (CLAA), have expressed their disapproval on the decision by the National Lottery Authority (NLA) to outsource 5/90 lottery to Keed Limited, arguing that this would lead to job losses to several millions of Ghanaians.
“We, private lotto operators are not opposed to digitiSation of lottery operation as it’s a growing trend. But to outsource 5/90 lottery to ONE company, Keed Limited (KGL), will result in millions of Ghanaians losing their jobs”, they said in a press release.
The two bodies argued that private lotto operators and lotto agents were in millions and most likely to lose their jobs if the NLA went ahead with its decision.
They are, therefore, calling on the NLA to critically examine the potential consequences of its intention on the economy and rescind its decision as a matter of urgency, saying; “the current state of the economy will make job losses extremely unbearable in a system with no government welfare (such as unemployment benefits, council flat, food stamp, child care etc.).”
The private lotto operators accused the NLA of failing to “regularise lotto operations to reduce unlawful practices and ensure that those of us who have paid for our license can operate at our optimum level and in turn contribute our quota to NLA and Ghana’s economy.”
“We the private lotto operators suggested to NLA to tax the writers by charging one hundred and twenty cedis (GH¢ 120) per lotto kiosk and all writers who pay will have a sticker embossed on their kiosk. There are over 2million writers in the private lotto sector. Can you imagine the revenue that NLA will generate through our writers? In the last five years, several petitions and letters have been written to NLA to enforce this suggestion but to no avail”, they said in the press release.
According to them, they began negotiations with the NLA under the leadership of Mr Ameyaw in 2020 to register and issue them with licenses to operate lottery.
They are calling on the NLA to reinstate the 10-year tenure licence renewal in the new agreement, which they believe would help them to recoup their capital investment, arguing further that “lottery is a game of chance and you can make a loss in the first year through massive wins. This prompts you to borrow to keep business afloat, how are you going to payback your debtors if you cannot operate after the first year?.”
The private lotto operators also want the NLA to furnish them with the new license agreement for their perusal, an invitation to sign the agreement and issue them with their licenses with a commencement date starting from the day of signing of the agreement.
“We also insist that every year we are allowed to renew the licenses for our operations.
The fee for the renewal must be made clear and the incremental amount should not be more than 10 percent of the initial fee,” they again stated.
They asked the NLA to implement suggestions from private lotto operators on how to generate more revenue for the government and desist from granting monopoly to KEED (KGL) and its subsidiaries and be open to a mechanism that included private lotto operators in the digitisation of lotto process.
DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI
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