Banker to banker operators welcome Gh₵1million license fees

The Ghana National Chamber of Licensed Banker to Banker Lotto Operators and Agents have welcomed the Gh₵ 1million license fee introduced by the National Lottery Authority (NLA) as a pre-requisite to approve the operations of private lotto operators in Ghana.

According to the chamber the move would help sanitise the industry as well as create jobs.
The Executive Chairman of the Ghana National Chamber of Licensed Banker to Banker Lotto Operators and Agents, Mr Frank Adjei at a press conference in Kumasi said the chamber had paid its license fee and urged others to follow suit.
Tracing the background of the issue, he explained that when NLA asked various Banker to Banker lotto operators for their proposed price quotation for license fees, most of those kicking against the current fee of Gh₵ 1million suggested Gh₵500 per region, meaning a national license would have cost Gh₵5 million as per their suggestion at the NLA board meeting.
He stated that the Chamber would like to commend Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, Director-General and the authority for taking pragmatic steps to register and license the Operators, Agents and Writers of Banker to Banker Lottery under the Public-Private Partnership in accordance with the National Lotto Act, 2006(Act 722).
Mr Adjei expressed the readiness of the chamber to partner the NLA and the government to realize the vision of creating jobs and maximizing revenue for the state for socio-economic development.
Concerns
He called for the arrest and prosecution of some Nigerians, Chinese and other foreign nationals who were allegedly operating banker to banker lottery in the country.
Mr Adjei described the act as unacceptable because under the National Lotto Act, 2006 (Act 722) no foreigner was permitted to operate any form of lottery in Ghana
He urged the board of NLA to be proactive and come up with measures, action plan and policies towards arresting recalcitrant Ghanaian lotto operators, agents and writers who were refusing to pay the license fees to the authority.
Mr Adjei said the 6pm to 6:30pm draw was negatively affecting the operations of lotto business, finances of lotto marketing companies and subsequently reducing the revenue of the authority and would like to appeal that the draw should be done between 6:50pm to 7pm to enable more people to stake Lotto from both the lotto marketing companies and banker to banker.
He also urged the authority to speed up the process of issuing License Certificate to his chamber, since they have fully paid their license fees of Ghc 1 million as at March 15, 2018.
He appealed to the Ministry of Finance to empower Mr Osei-Ameyaw to embark on nationwide tour to clarify issues and doubts cropping up against the operations and management of the Lotto business in Ghana especially the procedures for acquiring license to operate lottery in Ghana.