Lottery (Banker-to-Banker) operators, agents and writers in the country will henceforth have the liberty to operate without interference or arrest by security personnel with the introduction of the license and identification system by the National Lottery Authority.

The training of Banker-to-Banker Lotto writers Thursday, is the final step by the NLA to educate persons involved in the business on how to apply for and get lawfully registered with the Authority to avoid complications in their daily operations. This follows previous sessions organized for Banker-to-Banker operators and agents respectively.

Speaking on the sidelines of the program, Director General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), Kofi Osei-Ameyaw said, that the previous confiscation of equipment and money of operators by police personnel was in the right direction as they did so in their line of duty. The license and identification cards being introduced by the authority however he explained, will serve as an official pardon for all ‘illegal’ lottery operators to regularize their positions.

He explained, “Once that regularization comes about, it does not give cause to the police to arrest them for not complying with the law. We are trying to bring their current predicament into our regularization.

Mr. Osei-Ameyaw maintained that the Authority will begin the new regime from the January 1, 2018 after it gives the operators, agents and writers till December 31, to regularize their businesses.

According to him, the identification cards to be issued to these persons will have a validity period of up to a year, after which each person based on their satisfaction of the conditions set by the NLA, will be able to renew their cards.

“The validity of the identification cards will be one year, so it will be renewed annually depending on the background checks and due diligence that we undertake so if you are issued with a license and by the following year, you have not acted within the terms and conditions of the issuance of that license, then the license can be revoked”.

He indicated that the Authority has plans to incorporate illegal operators in neighboring countries in this new system once the process is functioning properly and things fall in place.

“We have the ECOWAS protocol, we have inter-West African country protocols, we will use the necessary diplomatic channels to make sure that whatever business that we are doing in Ghana is extended to those countries and we get our fair share of the revenue….once we tidy up our backyard, we can then proceed to other countries where the illegal activities are happening”.