The National Lottery Authority (NLA), as part of efforts to clamp down on illegal lotto operators across the country, has apprehended six operators in the Eastern Region.
This comes after the Authority completed its license regime as part of measures to streamline the activities of lotto operators.
Speaking on the recent operation to the media at the Koforidua Central Police station, Goodfellow Dei Ofei, who is the Public Relations Manager for the Authority, said “as we indicated we will have these unannounced swoops to clear the system of these illegal operators.”
He continued “we gave them ample time to have their activities properly regularized but some of these people thought we were joking about our resolve to clear the system of illegal lottery activities. Today’s operations was very successful we apprehended six operators at their closing points and some cash which are proceeds from their activities. The police have been of tremendous support to us. We expect to prosecute these suspects as soon as possible.”
It would be recalled that in September this year, the management of the National Lottery Authority, headed by its new Director General, Samuel Awuku, engaged the Association of Private Lotto Operators on the modalities to renewing their operational license for the year 2021/2022 which expired in June this year.
After the deliberations, both parties agreed on some modalities which culminated into the licensing procedure.
After the completion of the license regime, the NLA with the support of the security services set out to clamp down on the activities of persons operating Lotto illegally.
Series of such operations have occurred in some parts of the Greater Accra Region since the 1st of November this year. One such activity took the team to the Eastern Region which is regarded as the second largest sales region for the NLA. The operations were carried out in the Kwahu enclave ie. Nkawkaw, Abetifi, Atibei, etc.