The Director General of National Lottery Authority (NLA), Mr. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw says NLA will soon clamp down heavily on illegal lottery operators, popularly referred to as Banker to Banker, to help generate revenue for national development.
Mr. Osei-Ameyaw was interacting with members of the Association of Lotto Marketing Companies (ALMC) who called on him to congratulate him on his appointment.
The chairman of the ALMC, Dan Mensah pledged the association’s support to the Director General and assured him of their commitment to work closely with him and support his vision to promote the operations of NLA.
The Members of ALMC also appealed to the Director General to address some concerns hampering their business.
Key among this is for the need to clamp down on Banker to Banker operators whose activities are not only crippling their business but depriving the state of the revenue which should otherwise end up in the Consolidated Fund for national development.
Banker to Banker operators do not pay taxes on their earnings and more often than not also swindle their patrons by refusing to pay up on wins.
Members of the Association also decried the tax on lotto wins as this dissuades players from patronizing NLA products and encourages them to rather play Banker to Banker.
Mr. Osei-Ameyaw thanked the ALMC for their support and promised to work with them to further develop NLA in line with the vision of President Akufo-Addo to generate revenue for the State.
He assured them of some plans in place to address their concerns.
These include the set up of a Lotto Taskforce to clamp down on Banker to Banker operations.
He stressed that those found flouting the law will be prosecuted in Lotto courts established nationwide.
He further assured them that he would address the issue of taxes on wins, commissions and other issues stifling their business.
“We would provide them with model kiosks which will appeal to the player while decentralizing the business in all regions and districts,” he said.
He promised to hold periodic meetings with the ALMC to update them on progress made.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana