National lottery deal given to South African company

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Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has issued the national lottery operating licence to Ithuba Uganda Ltd. The company is owned by South African and Ugandan nationals.

Kasaija has today (Tuesday, August 8, 2023) also signed the National Lottery Agency Agreement with Ithuba Uganda Ltd for a period of 10 years subject to annual licence conditions. The company will run the national rotary on behalf of the Government.

In December 2021, the board advertised and made a call for applications to conduct the national lottery.

According to Kasaija, the purpose of the national lottery is to raise government revenue, which shall be a percentage of the gross sales including gaming tax of about shillings 87 billion and non-tax revenue of about shillings 60 billion for good causes annually.

“The revenue is expected to support good causes in areas of public infrastructure education, health and Sports development. The National Lottery is also expected to create 1700 jobs to Ugandan Nationals and many other indirect jobs,” he said.

Last week, the acting chief executive officer (CEO) of the Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board, Denis Ngabirano, told the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) that a successful firm had been selected after a rigorous process and recommended to the finance minister.

The board was responding to queries in the Auditor General’s report for the year ended June 2022 during a meeting with MPs on the Public Accounts Committee on COSASE.

Chaired by Joel Ssenyonyi, the board members were asked to explain how they procured the operator to conduct the national lottery.

“We still have not sorted out issues of standards and now, there is a mega national lottery coming up. We previously had the Premier Lottery and JADA, which made some people rich,” Ssenyonyi said.