Mmegi

National lottery faces cancellation

Distant dreams: Hopes of a national lottery are fading fast
Distant dreams: Hopes of a national lottery are fading fast

All indications are that the long awaited national lottery will not take place this year as anticipated and may even be scrapped altogether, BusinessWeek can reveal.

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.”


Editor's Comment
Get back what was stolen, and lock the door

That a single private law firm pocketed P6.5 million for just four cases, out of a total P11.1 million paid for 25 matters, reeks of a system that was not merely disorganised but open to abuse.Bayford has taken a welcome first step by telling the Public Accounts Committee the truth. Now he must act decisively to ensure it never happens again and that any money lost to wrongdoing is recovered.The figures are staggering. Whilst ordinary Batswana...

Have a Story? Send Us a tip
arrow up