Gambling Authority finalises lottery licence issuance
The Gambling Authority says it plans to issue the country’s first national lottery licence before April next year, bringing an end to a long-running legal squabble involving powerful bidders, BusinessWeek has established.
Sources privy to the latest developments told BusinessWeek that talks have already commenced between Ithuba Botswana, which was the reserve bidder of the national lottery and the Gambling Authority.
Ithuba Botswana is a subsidiary of a wellknown Pan African group Ithuba Holdings that has been operating the South African national lottery for the past seven years.
“All things being equal, we aim to issue the national lottery licence in the 2022–2023 financial year,” Gambling Authority said.
This comes after Grow Mine’s appeal to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry was not successful as they were dismissed.
Initially, the Gambling Authority had revoked Grow Mine’s status as preferred bidder noting negotiations around the lottery had proven unsuccessful.
As the preferred bidders of the country’s national lottery, Grow Mine failed to make a P10 million upfront payment to the Authority to kick-start the lottery.
The upfront payment would have been used as security to pay for the jackpot prizes in case the licence holder failed to raise sufficient money through tickets.
The failure was apparently due to well-publicised clashes between the powerful and wealthy shareholders at Grow Mine. Grow Mine, a consortium of high profile local business people and corporate entities, were awarded the 10-year licence to operate the country’s first national lottery in June 2020.
The Gambling Authority had received five bids from Grow Mine, Ad Infinitum Lottery, Win-A-Lot, Khupele and Ithuba Botswana.
Ithuba Botswana chairperson, Todd Mangadi recently told this publication that they are ready to contribute significantly to the country’s economic advancement and diversity.
Through the national lottery, Mangadi said they will immediately start empowering citizens as more opportunities will open up in the National Lottery value chain. In addition, they also aim to stimulate the retail industry as retailers will earn a commission through ticket sales.
Some of the immediate services that will be procured locally will include but are not limited to printing services, maintenance, security, distribution, warehousing and staff hiring amongst others.
The national lottery has had a troubled journey since it was announced in 2017. Ithuba, the new preferred bidder, once halted Grow Mine’s lottery talks in 2020 accusing the Gambling Authority of flouting its regulations regarding the bidding.