The Director-General of the National Lottery Authority, Sammi Awuku has vowed to drastically reduce illegal lotto operations in the country.

He said clamping down on illegal operations is extremely paramount as research had shown that the majority of lotto operations in the country are illegal.

Mr. Awuku pointed out that he will make lotto operators more accountable by ensuring that they pay taxes to the government.

“70% of our lottery operations are illegal. They are not licensed because it is estimated that we have in excess of 200 of these illegal companies operating. 70 percent of the people who make money from our lottery do not pay anything to the state. And that is why I want to be remembered for turning this situation around as Director-General,” he said on Citi TV’s Face to Face.

He said as part of plans to stop illegal operations, the NLA had begun a pre-qualification programme for private lotto operators for the 2021/2022 licencing year.

“I have 15 of these private lotto operators that we will license. First, about 120 people picked their forms, then 70 were disqualified because of issues with their documentation. We came down to 35 and then finally we have 15. It is likely that by the time we finish with the programme, we should be hitting 20.”