National lottery faces cancellation
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday January 22, 2024 06:00
Insiders close to the latest developments told BusinessWeek that despite the Gambling Authority (GA) and its preferred bidder, Ithuba Botswana, having completed negotiations almost a year ago, progress towards kick-starting the lottery has been halted due to legal wrangling by rival bidders.
“There are high chances that the first ever national lottery will be cancelled before it even starts,” authoritative sources told BusinessWeek. “This has largely been due to the legal fighting by the early bidders who feel they were unfairly dismissed by GA.”
Ithuba Botswana was the second runner up in the bidding to establish the national lottery. The Authority subsequently booted out the then preferred bidder, Grow Mine after the consortium reportedly failed to demonstrate the financial muscle required to kick-start the lottery.
Grow Mine took its protests to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and was dismissed as the minister, Mmusi Kgafela, ruled that he did not have jurisdiction to hear or determine the appeal. This decision was not received well by Grow Mine which then filed papers seeking the courts intervention in the long running matter.
According to the sources, the latest legal fillings have added more delays to a protracted process that has dragged on since 2017.
“Court cases usually take time to be resolved and it appears the initial bid winners will do whatever it takes to be the ones rolling the lottery out.
“As it stands, they have the right to go the legal route but it might mean waiting another 10 years for the lottery, which is the reason why it might get cancelled,” the insiders told BusinessWeek.However the Minister of Trade and Industry Mmusi Kgafela was adamant that the national lottery would not be cancelled and government remained committed to rolling it out. “There are no plans to cancel the lottery,” he told BusinessWeek on Thursday.
“The issuance of the licence has been stalled by the ongoing court case.”
The Gambling Authority had hoped to launch the national lottery in the first quarter of this year, a move eagerly anticipated by Batswana who want an opportunity to participate in gaming and the lottery winnings.
The national lottery has had a troubled journey since it was announced in 2017. Ithuba, the new preferred bidder, once halted Grow Mine’s own negotiations in 2020, accusing the Gambling Authority of flouting its regulations regarding the bidding.