NLA: Payment of big wins no issue

The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has urged the general public, staking players, lotto marketing companies, media and all stakeholders to ignore a publication claiming Authority has failed to pay big wins since April.

According to the authority, it is never true that it has failed to pay big winning tickets since April last year, adding that all outstanding prizes are being paid.

A statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of the NLA in reaction to claims by “one Mr. Jacob Odame and his Lotto Marketers Association in the Northern Region” said those claims are untrue and that the public should ignore it.

“Investigations, Auditing and due diligence are always conducted on all big winning tickets in order to prevent payment of fraudulent tickets due to the increasing activities of Lotto Fraudsters”, the statement said, stressing that “It is NEVER TRUE there is issue of non-payment of wins at various Banks.”

*959# mobile game
The authority said its mobile game, *959# has come to stay and forms part of government’s digitalization programme.

“The *959# would continue to operate the original 5/90 Lotto via MTN, Vodafone and AirtelTigo especially during this difficult period of Coronavirus pandemic.

“The *959# has been doing very well, serving as an additional revenue stream for NLA and Government. The implementation of *959# has become very critical for sustainability of the revenue generation of NLA.”

No paper roll shortage
The NLA also explained that claims that it had run out of paper roll currently cannot be true, adding that management has taken steps to address all the issues in relation to paper roll shortage.

“The management of National Lottery Authority therefore would like to state that the issues raised by one Mr. Jacob Odame and his Lotto Marketers Association in the Northern Region are UNTRUE and we urge everyone to completely disregard that publication.”