Announcement: National Lottery Licence

Gambling Authority CEO: Thuli Johnson
Gambling Authority CEO: Thuli Johnson

On the 4th of June 2020, the Gambling Authority (the Authority) announced Growmine Africa (Pty) Limited, trading as Dineo tsa Pula, as the Preferred Applicant, and Ithuba Solutions (Pty) Limited, trading as Ithuba Botswana, as the Reserve Applicant for the purpose of awarding a licence to operate the first ever Botswana National Lottery for a period of 10 years. A public notice to this eect was issued on the 10th of June 2020.

This selection was, as indicated then, subject to the successful negotiation and conclusion of a Licence Agreement between the Authority and the Preferred Applicant. The Authority further indicated that, should negotiations with the Preferred Applicant fail, the Authority would commence negotiations with the Reserve Applicant. The Authority commenced negotiations with Growmine on the 19th of January 2021.

The Board of the Authority wishes to inform the nation, that negotiations with Growmine were unsuccessful and consequently the status of Growmine as the Preferred Applicant has been revoked. The failure of the negotiations is as a result of Growmine’s failure to satisfy the Authority on a key, non-negotiable requirement as per the Request for Applications (RFA) for the licence to operate the National Lottery as well as a key undertaking made in their application and in presentations to the Evaluation Committee.

Editor's Comment
Bravo police for prompt action

It is also hurting that whilst we all know that the Botswana Police Service (BPS) is charged functionally with the duties to investigate all forms of crime, some locals have resorted to taking the law into their own hands. It is very wrong to do that. There is also a possibility that one may wrongfully take the life of a person in the process, unless it is a justifiable case of self-defence. Recently, in the city of Francistown, some locals found...

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