NLA to chart new path to improve operations
The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has announced plans to roll-out a number of new value-added services to its operations to cushion it agents across the country.
Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, the Director General of the NLA, made this known at a stakeholder’s forum in Accra.
The forum was to foster collaboration between NLA and its key stakeholders in the lotterry industry, especially lotto license operators and writers, aimed at addressing the challenges affecting lotto operations in the country.
Some lotto operators have complained about issues negatively affecting their welfare, particularly with regards to low commission (20 per cent) being paid by the NLA, as compared to their counterparts operating under banker-to-banker who are paid about 35 per cent non-tax commission.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the authority was considering an increase in the commission earned by operators from the 20 per cent to 25 per cent or even higher.
“We are a listening authority and are willing to listen to you as to how best we can work together to move this industry forward.
“There are also plans by the NLA to initiate and implement a welfare package for all its agents once the necessary strategies are put in place,” he said.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the move would open up the system for the “banker-to- -banker” operators to come onboard in order to help them earn enough to pay for their licensing fees and also help the Authority to generate more revenue for development.
He said the NLA had plans to telecast live lotto draws as was done years ago to ensure that operators were keenly involved in it.
He said the Authority had sent proposal to the Ministry of Finance for the scrapping of the taxes paid by agents to attract the “banker-to- banker” operators into the main stream operations.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the NLA was in the process of introducing about 30,000 new modernised and innovative kiosks nationwide, by November this year, to add value to the lotto business.
This, he said, would be done in partnership with banks to carry out banking activities on the point-of-sale.
He said in this technological age the machines being used by the licensed operators could do many things but currently restricted to the operation of lotto.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the NLA would be instituting a lotto police at the latter part of the year to help in clamping down the activities of individuals who deliberately contradicted the regulations of the Authority through the arrest of culprits for prosecution.
“The NLA had also instituted prosecution and the Lotto Courts to help adjudicate lotto related offenses,” He said.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the country was earning huge sums of money from the operation of lotto and that the need to regularise the operations was critical to the nations development agenda.
“Currently the NLA contributes GHC35 million annually to the Consolidated Fund and we are hoping to increase it to a hundred million cedis annually,” he said.
Mr David Agyekum, a Private Lotto Operator, told the GNA that he was glad about strategies being put in place by the NLA to enable operators to receive some leverage and not be considered as illegal operators any longer.
He said the regularisation was in line to ensure that those “breakaway individuals” would find it difficult to pay their client and bring sanity into the lotto business.
Source: GNA