16th March, 2011
Minister of Special Duties Prof. Taoheed Adedoja said on Tuesday in Abuja that the Federal Government is targeting N25 billion as revenue from lottery operators in the country.
Adedoja made the declaration while inaugurating a joint police and National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) enforcement team.
“We currently make about N1 billion a year from lottery earnings, but lottery has the potential to bring in N25 billion a year.
“So out target now is to ensure that we generate N25 billion a year from lottery,†the minister said.
According to him, lottery operators are supposed to give back 50 per cent of their earnings as prizes to participants while 20 per cent goes to the government and the operators keep 30 per cent.
He said that lottery was a multi-billion naira business, proceeds of which could be used for the development of the education, health, sports and several other sectors if properly handled.
He expressed regrets that the huge revenue expected from the lottery business was becoming a mirage because of activities of illegal lottery operators.
The minster stated that the inauguration of the joint team was a signal to both illegal operators and those who were licensed, but refused to play by the law, that the era of illegality was over.
He challenged the team to be fair, but firm in the discharge of its duties.
In his remarks, the Director-General of the National Lottery Commission Mr. Peter Igho, decried the situation where several promotional announcements promised to give out billions of naira as prizes only to defraud the people.
He said that the agency was committed to ensuring that lottery operators played the game by the rules or faced the consequences.
