Glitches continue for new lottery operator but Ithuba says problems minor

JOHANNESBURG: Persistent technical problems that result in lottery customers being unable to buy tickets continue to dog Ithuba, the recently appointed national lottery operator.

Various lottery customers in Joburg and parts of Pretoria contacted the Cape Times’ sister paper The Star yesterday to complain about faulty terminals.

Ithuba admitted to technical glitches at some of the lottery terminals, but said the problems were minor.

Ithuba spokesperson Anda Ngani said the operator had substantially beefed-up its technical reaction team to solve the problem.

“We are aware of pockets of glitches experienced in different places on the retailer footprint, which are immediately resolved once the issue is escalated to us,” she said.

“Sometimes you find (that) it is a case of somebody punching in a wrong password as retailers are still learning how to use the new terminals.”

Ngani assured customers that the company was trying everything it could to improve service in retailers in order to eliminate errors.

She said “field agents will visit various retailers to attend to technical glitches and to also educate retailers on how to operate the new terminals”.

Ngani added: “The terminals are different to those that were used under Gidani, so we have come in with a whole new system. The transition process is very drastic.”

In an attempt to respond speedily to queries, she said Ithuba had established a “war room that fields and escalates queries and requests to the right channels and personnel within the organisation”.

Ithuba rolled out 6 000 terminals when it took over from Gidani on June 1, according to Ngani. She said the company planned to roll out 3 000 additional terminals by the end of this month, which would bring the total number of terminals across the country to 9 000.

On the shortage of lotto tickets, Ngani said customers could also use Ithuba’s manual system. She urged lottery customers to enquire in stores about this service.

“When at a retailer, a player can play their favourite lottery game by using the lotto tickets or alternatively, retailers can punch in the numbers directly on the terminals. All retailers are aware of this. We also encourage players to inform us when some retailers have run out of consumables,” she said.

Despite the problems, Ngani said Ithuba was doing well.

“We have only been in operation for four weeks, but we have already paid out a total of R100 million in prizes. This shows that people are playing the lottery,” Ngani said.

She said the company would soon create innovative ways to ensure that playing the lottery was simpler.

“As we go further, we will look at ways of playing the lottery through the bank,” Ngani said.

Lottery customers can contact Ithuba’s helpline on 0800 484 822 between 6am and 11pm.