14 Mar 2017

BSpeaking during the GA breakfast meeting on the lottery RFA process on Tuesday, Chief executive officer of the Gambling Authority (GA) Thuli Johnson said lottery provides the government with tax revenue.

“Lottery raises money for good causes.

Through the National Lottery Distribution Fund, it helps disburse money for good causes mainly sports, charities, the arts, and others,” he said.

Mr Johnson said winning the Jackpot can also change one’s life; even though it is a rare occurrence.

He also said playing lottery energises people as they seek to guess the numbers that will come out.

Speaking on the process towards selecting an operator for the Botswana National Lottery, Mr Johnson said the opening period for enquiries is March 28th.”

The RFA itself will attract a nominal fee, once it has been paid, a detailed RFA will be sent to the applicant,” he said.

He further said in order to submit enquires, bidders have up to April  11 and all potential bidders should inform the authority on the 11th that they will bid.

Mr Johnson said all bidders would be invited for a conference to take place on April 18,  where they would be sat down in a room for a question and answer clarification time.

He said applicants would apply for a licence following the guideline outlined in the RFA, which are to be submitted by the submission date, along with the nonrefundable application fee of P1 million.

He said the deadline for all applications is June 30.

Mr Johnson said the assessment process would include due diligence of each of the applicants to define their identity.

“We need to ensure a number of things required by the law; are you fit and proper to hold the licence, do you have a bank account, never been to jail, your financial credibility and ITC clearance,” he said.

“One of the things we do not want to see is failure by the operator.

The assessment process will also comprise in-camera interviews, private interactions with the board as well as public presentations with operators.

The preferred applicant will be announced on September  22 while the announcement of the award is scheduled to take place on November 17.

”When we have now awarded the awardee, we expect them in December and January to tell us when they will be ready, we will now have a live lottery in 2018,” he said. ENDS