NLA Never Met Private Lotto Operators To Agree In Reduction Of 20% Commission-PRO Goodfellow Ofei Set The Records Straight
"It is not true that the private lotto operators have consulted the NLA and the Authority has agreed with the operators to reduce the payment of 20% commission.
Freeman Koryekpor 
National Lottery Authority (NLA) has denied the wide spread reports attributed to the private lotto writers to the effect that the Authority has been in the league with their employers- 14 licenced private lotto operators to reduce the current retailer commission payment of 20% on the wins.
"It is not true that the private lotto operators have consulted the NLA and the Authority has agreed with the operators to reduce the payment of 20% commission.
"Nobody can force the NLA to make any reduction because we have started the implementation of the 20% commission rate on the wins of the lottery staking for long time. It is either the private lotto operators want to work with the regulatory systems that we have putting in place in NLA or the operators would said that they cannot continue to carry the lottery business with NLA any more. So we would not allow anyone to engage in the illegalities in the industry," the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for NLA, Mr. Goodfellow Ofei.
Mr Ofei clarified these issues when he was speaking in an interview with the Angel TV on Thursday November 24, 2024 in Accra monitored by Soireenews.com to refute various allegations leveled against the NLA.
According to him, the 20% commission payment on the wins, has been a mandatory lottery commission set up by the Board of the NLA, saying that there are wisdom for which the NLA chosen the 20% commission, saying that the commission the NLA paid to the lotto operators is the highest one across the world.
He stated that, last week the Director- General of NLA, Mr. Samuel Kwabena Awuku led a delegation from Ghana to Malta to invite Maltese officials to participate in the incoming 60th anniversary celebration of the NLA.
He mentioned that as part of the discussion, the Maltese officials stated emphatically that the lottery commission the NLA is paying to the lotto operators in Ghana is of high level, which Maltese officials said would go along to destroy the lottery industry.
Articulating on the reasons why the NLA decided to pay 20 % commission on the lottery in Ghana, Mr Ofei noted that "the lottory model that the Authority is running in Ghana, should in case you work for a day you expected that the money you will get for the day, you would reserve the 60% to pay your wins.
He added that "the people who would come to stake the lotto, you are expecting that their pay out would be around 60%. Sometimes it goes over the board. "
He pointed out that "Two weeks ago the NLA has paid 394% wins and we have done work to the tune of GH¢1.1 million and that the NLA paid over GH¢4 million wins and that we are weaving around an average of 60 %. And that if you pay 60 % for the wins finished, if you pay a commission of 20% it makes up to 80 %, then it left with the 20%. An then the operational expenses with the workers and with the taxes that you would pay on your profit should be in the 20%.
"And that if the lottery operators come for the operational license from the NLA, and you go into the lottery operational market, and you pay the 20% commission on the wins, for example in Kumasi, we over heard that some private operators paid 40 % commission on the wins, and some operators even promised of paying 45¢ commission on the wins, what it takes is that they would be able to either not paying their wins or taxes towards GRA. Their commitment towards GRA is questionable," he noted.
