“Cloak & Dagger” National Lottery Commission Briefing Session
With the current National Lottery operator licence set to expire in May 2025 after a 2 year post-COVID extension, there have been several false starts in timelines for submissions of bids following publication last year of RFP’s for the re-award thereof.
Just recently a post has been made on the National Lottery Commission website announcing a “Briefing Session for the Fourth National Lottery and Sports Pool Licence”. Those wishing to register their interest are directed to a form requiring them to enter their details to obtain further information of exactly where and when the session will take place.
Ostensibly, you aren’t obliged to have obtained the RFP in order to attend the briefing session and it is seemingly open to interested parties from the general public, provided that they identify themselves, and by implication their real interest, sufficiently. Thereafter, if current timelines are anything to go by (and this regulator is somewhat known for extending timelines) hopeful applicants will have more or less 6 months to finalise their bids.
Interestingly, to date no incumbent operator has ever succeeded in obtaining the re-award of ‘their’ licence, so the prospects of a new operator are high.
Lotteries in South Africa
Although a recognised form of gambling, lotteries do not fall within the purview of either the national or provincial gambling boards in South Africa and are regulated by a single national regulator in the form of the National Lotteries Commission which is a creature of statute established by the National Lotteries Act, No 57 of 1997 (as amended).
For the past 9 years or so, licensed bookmakers have succeeded in laying fixed-odds bets on a host of lotteries, despite legal challenge from both the NLC and the current operator of the South African National Lottery. This has given rise to a fair measure of tension between the NLC and its sister gambling regulators, despite their parent being the same – in the form of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Lurie Inc is well versed with the National Lotteries Act and licensing and tender processes in the gambling sphere and is ideally positioned to provide its expertise and assistance in any such process.
17/08/2023
