The Ghana Lotto Operators Association (GLOA) and the Concerned Lotto Agents Association of Ghana (CLAA) are dismayed over the decision by NLA to outsource the 5/90 lottery to a private firm.

The Unions in a statement on September 14 contended that the intended decision by the NLA will result in job losses.

“We, private lottery operators, are not opposed to the growing trend of digitizing the lottery industry. However, outsourcing the 5/90 lottery to KEED Limited will lead to the job loss of millions of Ghanaians.

“There are almost two million writers employed by private lotto companies who could lose their jobs. Additionally, thousands of workers and over 6,000 writers will be impacted,” portions of the statement read.

The lotto operators and agents further questioned the authenticity of the private firm and stressed that the intended action by NLA is to benefit the personal interest of some government officials.

“The questions of “Who are the real owners of the KEED Limited” and “What have they contributed to the Ghanaian economy and the lottery sector” still exist.

“Some government officials’ personal interests are more at stake here than the interests of hardworking Ghanaians or the nation’s economy as a whole.”

GLOA and CLAA wondered why the government would hand over the privatization of lotto operations to a firm which has been around for not more than two years when there are 15 registered private lotto firms which “have paid millions of cedis over the last two years”.

According to them, NLA is treating them “unfairly”.

The Unions, therefore, want NLA to “desist from granting a monopoly to KEED and its subsidiaries and be open to a mechanism that includes private lotto operators in the digitization of lotto process.”

Also, they want the Authority to reinstate the 10-year tenure license renewal in a new agreement and provide a copy of the revised license for review.

“We also demand that we be given permission to renew our business licenses on an annual basis. The renewal fee must be stated clearly, and the additional amount cannot exceed 10% of the original fee,” the Unions said.