The National Lottery Authority (NLA) on Saturday said the payment of winning tickets/prizes after every draw would slightly delay for a number of days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A statement signed by the Public Relations Unit of the Authority, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said its employees currently run on shift basis as a result of the pandemic, hence validation and payments would reasonably delay.

It said in as much as the Authority was willing to satisfy the staking public, lotto discounters and the LMCs, it was equally important to take pragmatic steps to protect the lives its employees in these difficult periods of the COVID-19.

The statement, therefore, appealed to its stakeholders to cooperate with the Authority as it needed to properly investigate winning tickets/prizes before payment due to the rising activities of lotto fraudsters.

“The decision by the NLA to do due diligence, thorough investigation and validation of winning tickets will definitely affect the timelines for payment,” it said.

"From the above stated reasons, we are humbly urging the staking public, lotto discounters and LMCs to promptly register their Winning Tickets at the nearby Regional and District Offices of the NLA or the Authority's Head Office for investigation and validation before payment."

It called on the public to cooperate with the NLA and exercise restraint “so that collectively we can transform the lottery industry.”