The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has met regional executives of the Lotto Marketing Companies (LMC) in Accra as part of its stakeholder consultations to boost the lottery industry in Ghana.
“They seem to be favouring the illegal lotto operators, popularly known as banker-to-banker to the neglect of legitimate lotto operators,” J.M. Allotey, the treasurer for Greater Accra Zone 6 told DAILY GUIDE.
Kofi Osei Ameyaw, the Director General of the NLA, stated that the meeting was held to calm the nerves of the LMCs and to educate them properly on the new modalities of the Authority.
“We are trying to sensitize them and to assure them that we are in no way trying to diminish the operations of the LMCs, and in any case remind them that they are our top priority,” he stated.
New Services
Mr. Ameyaw assured the executives of the LMCs that he was in the process of introducing Value Added Services (VAS) to lottery or lotto operators to increase their yield.
He stated that his outfit was in talks with companies and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to enable the lotto operators send and transfer money and also enhance the revenue of the government.
According to him, as part of the project, the Authority was going to introduce about 30,000 e-kiosks with solar panels, and in collaboration with the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies place these kiosks at acceptable locations to improve the lives of the lotto operators.
Concerns
The LMCs raised concerns about their commissions and taxes.
Mr. Ameyaw explained that their commissions were reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent because of a subsidy that the Authority had to pay to the technical and service providers that help the lotto industry.
He told them that measures were being put in place to increase the commission to 25 percent through some structural adjustments.
Mr Ameyaw stated that his outfit was in talks with the Ministry of Finance to waive the taxes on commissions and also taxes on winnings, so that more people would stake lotto which would in turn increase the yield of the authority and LMCs.
He stated that the policy would be run on a pilot basis for two years to see its cost benefit analysis if it’s accepted.
The LMCs also congratulated the Director General and the new management for the speedy way in which they receive their commissions.
Over the weeks, the National Lottery Authority has been engaging stakeholders on how to improve lotto operations in Ghana.
One of such consultations led to a decision to register and license ‘illegal lotto operators,’ popularly known as banker-to-banker operators, to regularize their operations in conformity with the lotto laws of the country.
<<Print>>