The umbrella body of private lotto marketers, the Ghana Lotto Operators Association of Ghana (GLOA), has commended Kofi Osei Ameyaw-led management of National Lottery Authority for bringing them onboard under the authority Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) scheme.

The association, through its executives said, the initiative which would lift the ban on individual enterprises participation in the lottery business, will open job opportunities for the teeming unemployed across the country, and make it possible for GLOA members to employ many Ghanaians.

The initiative, brings to an end the demand and pressure by the lotto operators to involve them in the business, a discussion which had been going on for some months now, until last Tuesday when consensus was reached at a meeting.

The meeting was chaired by the Board Chairman of the Authority, Francis Nyonyo Agboada, in attendance were the Director-General of NLA, Kofi Osei Ameyaw, as well as board and management members.

By this initiative, members of GLOA, would be allowed to operate their respective lotteries under strict regulation by NLA after an application for a license, and a fee of One Million Ghana Cedis (GH¢1 Million) had been paid.

Excited over the move after the meeting, Chairman of Lotto Operators, Mr. Dan Borsor in an interview with the media, commended the authority for the bold initiative.

According to him, given the fact that, GLOA members, have the potential of employing huge numbers of unemployed Ghanaians, the decision by the Authority was a laudable one that had to be encouraged and sustained in order to raise revenue to support government projects and programmes.

Chairman of the association, Mr. Dan Borsor was, however, of the view that, the license fee of GH¢1 million was on the high side and pleaded with the NLA to reconsider its decision on the amount.

According to him, if the fee is not reviewed downwards, it could have the potential of pushing a lot more of GLOA members out of the contention, since they may not be able to raise the amount.

“The GHC 1 million is on the high side,” the GLOA Chairman noted and added that, “we urge NLA to be flexible on its licensing regime so that, a lot more of our members could come on board.”

He said: “Even with our proposal of GH¢500,000, if it had been accepted, that would have meant that, some of our members were going to swallow the bitter pill, but it would have been a better option than the current figure, which may prevent many people from operating private lotto in the country.”

For his part, Mr. Seth Amoani, Secretary of GLOA, thanked the NLA for the initiative and the willingness to work with private lotto operators under a public-private –partnership arrangement, which is supported by Section 2(2) of Act 722 of 2006.

“We accept the licensing regime but we appeal to the NLA to consider the circumstances of each of our members under the licensing regime and to treat each member, taking into consideration their peculiar circumstances,” he said.

Mr. Noah Afonope of Star Lotto also told journalists that, “the GH¢1 million may scare some of our members from being licensed in view of the difficulties in raising such a huge amount,” and noted that, this may compel some members to go underground, and thereby prevent the nation from realizing the needed revenues.

Other GLOA executives present at the meeting include; Mr. Seth Amoani, Secretary, Frank Agyei, a famous operator in Kumasi, James Obiri Asare of Obiri Lotteries, Joe Ayivor of Ape Lotto, Samuel Ahiadekeh of Vision Lotto and Noah Afonope of Casa De Oro – (Star Lotto).