The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has commenced an operation to clamp down on illegal private lotto operators, popularly called Banker to Banker.
The team which was drawn from the military, police and the NLA lotto Taskforce are set to arrest and ensure the prosecution of those involved in the illegal business.
Last September, the NLA announced its intention to clamp down on the activities of illegal private lotto operators and subsequently set out a pre-qualification phase of the licensing regime where the operators were given the chance to register with the NLA.
The authority after the one month window disqualified 70 entities that failed to meet the NLA set criteria.
The authority then set their licence fee and asked the qualified companies to proceed with the licensing process to be issued a licence for the 2021/2022 licensing year.
Public Relations Manager of NLA, Goodfellow Dei Ofei, addressing the media at the Ministry Police Station in Accra after one of swoops said “we are determined to sanitise the lottery industry of illegal operators and operations activities.”
He said “the NLA has been very reasonable with the process, we gave them a fair opportunity to rectify their position with us but the recalcitrant elements did not want to follow our directives.”
He said “we have sent our men into the regions to arrest and ensure the prosecution of those operating without the requisite licence or authorisation.”
The PRO said “the NLA did not just disqualify them without giving them options. We gave them two options, one is to consider registering as a Lotto Marketing Company (LMC) so they can sell for the NLA which comes at no cost or to register under one of the registered private operators whose number of writers can still accommodate them and still meet the threshold.”
“So far the team in Accra have arrested over 35 operators and have seized cash from these operators. Per our arrangement with the police, any money or items we seize during the operations are handed to the police for safe keeping because they will be used as exhibits during prosecution,” Mr. Ofei added.