National Lottery
31 July 2006
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mandisi Mpahlwa today announced
Gidani as the preferred bidder to run the National Lottery. Uthingo, whose
contract expires in April 2007, was announced as the second preferred bidder.
There will then be detailed negotiations through which a company that is going
to conduct the National Lottery for a period of between five and eight years
will finally be announced.
Minister Mpahlwa said that he was satisfied with the selection process as it
was a rigorous process that was conducted in a fair manner, as bidding
companies had to comply with a set of criteria as stipulated in the National
Lotteries Act.
The National Lotteries Board (NLB), which is responsible for administering
the National Lottery, made its recommendations about the preferred bidder to
the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mandisi Mpahlwa. In terms of the
Lotteries Act (No 57 of 1997) the National Lottery is operated under licence
for a minimum period of five years and a maximum period of eight years.
The National Lottery is operated under licence for a minimum period of five
years and a maximum period of eight years and as such the National Lotteries
Board is appointed as the regulator of the National Lottery. In order to
provide sufficient time for a smooth transition from the first to the second
licence period, a request for proposals to operate the National Lottery for the
next licence period was published in July 2005.
The four consortia which submitted proposals on 30 November 2005 are:
* Gidani
* Igwija Gaming
* NikanâAbantu
* Uthingo Management
The Members of the National Lotteries Board were tasked with the evaluation
of the proposals. This process began in the first week of December 2005 with
reference site visits conducted from 16 February to 11 March 2006 through which
an independent evaluation of the fairness and integrity of the evaluation
process was conducted by Grant Thornton.
Licence negotiations will ensue between the National Lotteries Board and the
preferred bidder. Once agreement has been reached, the new licence to operate
the National Lottery will be signed. It is envisaged that this will take place
at the end of September 2006. After the issuing of the licence to operate the
National Lottery by the Minister of Trade and Industry, details of the licensee
will be made public.
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
31 July 2006
Source: Department of Trade and Industry (http://www.dti.gov.za)
