Our concerns have been neglected – Lotto retailers

Members of the Northern Lottery Marketers and Retailers Association (NLMRA) have expressed worry about how their concerns on issues concerning their lottery business have been neglected by the management of the National Lottery Authority.

They said the neglect was affecting their businesses and appealed to management NLA to give them a listening ear to address their concerns and improve sales to boost the economy.

The retailers expressed the concern in Tamale during a meeting with delegation of some management members of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) from its headquarters.

Miss Inusah Martha, a member of NLMRA, said the association attempted several times to get the attention of the NLA national management to discuss issues of ‘banker-to-banker’ lottery operation and other challenges but to no avail.

She said ‘’banker-to-banker’’ lottery retailers get 30 per cent commission on daily basis whereas, members of the NLMRA get 20 per cent monthly and this is the reason why many people prefer the ‘banker to banker’ to NLA since winners get paid immediately”.

Mr Mohammed Issaka, another member of the association, said they held a conference early this year to address this issue but there has been no improved results and called on NLA management at the national level to consider the concerns of their business partners.

He said their sales have dwindled due to the operations of the banker to banker operators and that some members of the NLMRA may also join the banker to banker sector if steps are not taken to address their concerns.

Mr Amoah Kwame, NLMRA member, said they pay 15 per cent commission on the machines they use for operation yet, these machines had not been serviced and this makes working with them difficult.

Mr Kofi Frimpong, the National Secretary of NLA, said “the lottery court was inaugurated to stop illegal lottery retails but the banker to banker was licensed due various reasons including their lobbying efforts”.

Mr Daniel Mensah, the Chairman of the NLA board, said any other lottery other than the NLA was illegal per the law.

Source: GNA