The machines are to replace some of the existing ones which are between 20 and 26 years old.

They will be used for drawing four of NLA’s seven daily games, with the existing ones scheduled to be used for drawing the remaining three games while awaiting the procurement of others to complete the replacement process.

“The new draw machines are to help us in what we do.

We can no longer depend on our old machines because the parts are not available, the Director-General of NLA, Samuel Awuku, said.

He was speaking to journalists at Peduase, near Aburi in the Eastern Region on the operations of the lottery authority and the new changes happening at the place.

The meeting attracted about 30 journalists who were taken through the legal framework bordering on lottery in the country, some positive developments such as the increase in third party collaborators, increased revenue outlook and the pursuit of WLA.

The NLA Director-General said the new machines which were procured from Smart Play, a United States company with a reputation for producing gaming machines, would be used alongside the old machines until early next year.

NLA currently operates seven weekly games and draws, with each game having its own machine responsible for drawing.

The machines also have backups.

The authority also operates the VAG Lotto on behalf of the Veterans Administration of Ghana (VAG), under the Veterans Administration Act, 2012 (Act 844). The NLA has also partnered KGL as its third party collaborator to operate the digital/online jackpot game, 5/90.

On some of the operational improvements at the authority, Mr Awuku said 5/90 Jackpot which used to pay GH¢25 million a year to the NLA two years ago, increased the payment to GH¢55 million and now paid GH¢96 million to the NLA a year, after renegotiations.

Also, the NLA has signed on two new third party collaborators to play their own games and remit a portion of the revenue to the NLA under a revenue shared agreement.  

The two wholly-owned Ghanaian companies are Zeta Technologies, which operates the Mega6 Lotto, and Game Park Limited, which has been licensed to play two games – Pick 1 and Pick 4 – set to be launched on Wednesday.

“The revenues are growing because we are helping our partners to grow.

The whole essence of encouraging our third party collaborators that we sign on is to enable them to grow in the industry and generate more revenue to complement the efforts of the NLA and also help promote good causes,” Mr Awuku stated.

Good Causes

Good Causes Foundation is a charity arm of the NLA.

It was born out of the authority’s membership of the World Lottery Association (WLA) whose level two membership it attained recently.

Pursuing processes to attain level four (Four level) membership of the association requires that the lottery authority dedicates part of its revenue to support good causes.

The NLA has chosen four areas of focus in its CSR activities.

They are education, health, arts and culture, and sport and youth development.

Mr Awuku said Good Causes had since its inception in 2021 affected more than 220,000 lives and that the initiative should be continued.