Print article   email story

Malose Monama

IT’S been a tough six months of lean and mean budgets for Gidani, the new national lottery operator.

The resilience displayed during the difficult months has, however, begun to bear fruit.

The company put together for the special purpose of running the national lottery declared it was over the difficult teething months with an offer of the biggest ever guaranteed jackpot of R40 million recently.

That mega-millions jackpot saw three lucky Lotto players bagging R13.3 million each. That has been followed up with yesterday’s bumper bonanza jackpot of R20 million.

“We may not be totally out of the woods yet, but it is looking good,” said Gidani spokesperson Thembi Tulwana. She said the six months during which Lotto was in limbo were very costly.

Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa suspended the lottery in March last year, after former operator Uthingo successfully challenged the awarding of the licence to Gidani.

The Pretoria High Court ordered Mpahlwa to review his decision and address Uthingo’s concerns.

Mpahlwa announced on September 21 that this process had resulted in Gidani retaining the licence, a decision which made it possible for the lottery to resume last October.

Tulwana said: “It’s been a challenging six months but extremely successful on the other hand.

“Challenging in the sense that we came from a position of a lull where there was no Lotto for six months.

“We came into an environment where there was player apathy and a general waning of confidence in the national lottery.

“We have had to work very hard to restore confidence and I am happy to say that we have seen an upswing in the number of players with each passing week.”

Tulwana said ticket sales for the Wednesday draws have grown 8% while Saturday sales have shot up 11%. She says 30 more people have been employed.

She said: “About 30% of Gidani staff came from Uthingo, predominately IT personnel, operational staff and a couple of executives.

“In just six months we have made 56 millionaires who have won a total of R190 million.”

The operator has R150 million in unclaimed prizes. “Six millionaires have not come forward to claim their prizes: Three from Gauteng (R1.4m, R1.1m and R1.5m), one from North West (R1.4m), one from KwaZulu-Natal (R1.7m) and one from Western Cape (R1.7m).

Gidani has in the period contributed R802 million to charity.

In the six months about 8 million South Africans have spent almost R2 billion buying Lotto tickets. The retailer base has grown by 600 from an initial 7 000 outlets.

The retailers, who include small storekeepers in villages and townships, have earned R116 million selling Lotto tickets.

Tulwana said Gidani would in time approach the National Lotteries Board for permission to host new and more exciting games.

Currently Gidani offers Lotto, Lotto Plus, Wina Manje (scratch card games) and Sportstake.

Bongani Khumalo, chief executive of Gidani, says his company is committed to supporting South Africa’s economic and social development effort as well as the country’s poverty alleviation drive.

Responding to the charge that gambling fed poverty, Khumalo said given its social benefits, the pros of the Lotto far outweighed the cons.

“We are revitalising parts of the retail sector especially in historically marginalised and disadvantaged communities, benefiting worthy causes that rely on the National Lottery for much-needed funding and putting money into the state coffers directly and through taxes.”

Government is the single largest shareholder in Gidani, holding 20% of the total equity.

The other shareholders include Khumalo’s Gravitas, Intralot, Kopano Ke Matla, National Organisation of the Blind in SA (Nobsa), Nozala, the SA National NGO Coalition (Sangoco) and Vunani Capital.

Gidani contributes 34% of its total revenue to good causes and pays 6% commission to retailers.

Khumalo said: “Significantly, of the retail outlets that have contracts with Gidani, 49% are owned by previously disadvantaged South Africans and 19% of retailers are situated in the historical townships.”

Lotto retailer Sam Morake of Regaugetswe Butchery in Klipgat says Lotto is good for business.

“Besides the revenue from ticket sales, business picks up somewhat on draw days.

“Lotto also brings with it a challenge of security. Thieves tend to target businesses that sell Lotto,” Morake said.

However, Joe Mokiti of OK Grocer in Soshanguve says selling Lotto can be burdensome.

“Very long queues of up to 200 metres form on draw days but very few of these people buy anything else.

“I have had to dedicate two of my people to just sell Lotto and whatever benefit accrues from selling it goes towards their salaries,” he said.

Subscribe to the print edition of City Press