President of the World Lottery Association (WLA), Rebecca Paul, has revealed that Ninety-Two Billion Dollars ($92 Billion) from lottery proceeds globally were channeled to Good Causes.
According to Madam Paul, the stated amount was spent last year alone as contributions from various lottery bodies across the globe.
Speaking at the climax of the 60th-anniversary celebration of the Ghana Lottery Authority (NLA) at which she was in attendance with other executives of the WLA, Madam Paul underscored the significance of Good Causes.
“I am happy to tell you that we spent Ninety-Two Billion Dollars in last year alone raised by Lotteries across the globe for Good Causes”, she revealed.
The WLA President is however worried about the proliferation of illegal lotto operations she disclosed is hampering the objectives of Lottery bodies honouring their corporate social responsibility through Good Causes.
“The biggest detriment to what is happening is illegal gaming. They don’t contribute to Good Causes, they don’t pay taxes, and they don’t follow the same rules all of us do in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility. The World Lottery Association is working on how to prevent Illegal gaming across the globe. All of you here in Ghana should be very pleased with the amount of money raised for health, education and sports”, she disclosed.
It would be recalled that at this year’s World Lottery Summit held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, it was uncovered those illegal lottery activities which according to the Association caused a loss of revenue of a total of 1.8 trillion dollars in 2022 alone.
As a result, the World Lottery Authority (WLA) has revealed that it will be focusing more on responsible gaming and good causes in the coming years and has asked member countries to promote these values.
Ghana’s National Lottery Authority (NLA) itself has been battling illegal lottery activities for some time now and is determined to increase its clamp down with new measures put in place by the current Director-General.
The NLA which has also little over a year now launched its charity arm the ‘Good Causes Foundation’, is determined to develop, implement and maintain an integrated action plan based on four main pillars – education, health, youth and sports development and culture.