The former Public Relations Manager of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), Dr. Razak Kojo Opoku, has dismissed recent claims by The Fourth Estate and its Executive Director, Sulemana Briamah, describing their report on the NLA-KGL partnership as misleading and unprofessional.

In a statement issued by Dr. Opoku, he clarified that Keed Ghana Limited and KGL Technology Limited are two separate entities and that The Fourth Estate’s publication wrongly conflated the two.

According to Dr. Opoku, Keed Ghana Limited was fined GHC 10 million by the NLA for piloting its *959# platform without the appropriate 5/90 Online Lottery License Agreement.

He noted that the payment of the penalty was a lawful and appropriate decision by both Keed Ghana Limited and the NLA.

He further explained that after the payment of the penalty, KGL Technology Limited subsequently took over operations from Keed Ghana Limited — a transition he said was transparent and legitimate.

Dr. Opoku challenged The Fourth Estate and Sulemana Briamah to answer key questions regarding other companies that allegedly operated online lottery platforms illegally without the required authorisation.

These include:

How much Alpha Lotto Limited paid to the NLA for operating the 5/90 lottery via *896# for 11 months.

How much Onassis Lotto paid for using *859# to operate an unauthorised 5/90 online lottery.

How much the operators of www.theb2blotto.com paid for running the 5/90 lottery online without a license?

He argued that addressing these questions would help expose what he described as “selective and unbalanced reporting” by The Fourth Estate in its investigations into the NLA-KGL arrangement.

“The agenda by The Fourth Estate and Sulemana Briamah is not agending,” Dr. Opoku stated humorously, suggesting that the publication’s attempt to discredit the NLA-KGL partnership has failed.

Dr. Opoku maintained that the NLA’s collaboration with KGL Technology Limited has been beneficial to the Authority and to Ghana’s lottery industry, emphasising that the facts show the Fourth Estate’s reports were based on flawed assumptions and factual inaccuracies.