Lottery Bonanza: How NLA gave away GHC3 billion prime business in exchange for peanuts

On February 6, 2025, the immediate past Director-General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), and now Member of Parliament (MP) for Akuapem North, Samuel Awuku, delivered his maiden statement to the Ghanaian Parliament.

The focus of his statement was on how to enhance proceeds from the Lottery to support Ghana’s development.

In that grand speech, eloquently laced with examples of how the Lottery has contributed to the development of other countries, he cited as an example how funds from the lottery supported the construction of the famous Great Wall of China.

“As the immediate past Director General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), I would like to bring to our attention the significant; yet overlooked, ways the Government can optimise the use of lottery proceeds, implement stricter measures against illegal lottery operations, and maximise revenue through innovative fiscal strategies, including tax incentives. This statement is also to highlight the best practices around the world that I believe Ghana could also learn from,” Mr. Awuku summarised the purpose of his speech to Parliament.

He then made recommendations on how to increase lottery proceeds and how proceeds can be spent.

But what the 41-year-old first-time MP did not disclose to Parliament was that, during his leadership, he signed off the most lucrative business of the NLA – the 5/90 online lottery – to a private company for peanuts.

In 2019, the then Director General of the NLA, Kofi Osei Ameyaw, signed a controversial three-year contract with a private company called KGL Technology Limited, to operate the NLA’s 5/90 lottery online via a USSD code (on mobile phone). Upon expiration of the contract in 2022, Mr. Awuku and his board renewed the contract with KGL for a 10-year period.

But before the expiration of the 10 years, in 2024, Mr. Awuku and his Board, Chaired by Gary Nimako Marfo, signed a new contract with KGL, granting the company exclusive rights to operate the 5/90 lottery online via USSD. This new contract was not for five years; not 10 years; but 15 years (from 2024 to 2039) with an automatic renewal for another five years.

Mr. Awuku and his board also signed two other contracts for KGL to operate the 5/90 online lottery in Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. These two contracts were also not for one year; not for two years; and not for five years. They were for 10 years each.

The Fourth Estate’s investigations revealed that annual revenue to KGL from the NLA’s 5/90 online lottery in 2024 alone was over GHC3 billion or over GHC250 million each month.

In an interview with the Group Chairman of KGL, Alex Apau Dadey, he confirmed to The Fourth Estate that the company’s 2024 revenue from the NLA’s 5/90 online lottery was over GHC3 billion.

Under the contracts, however, KGL was supposed to pay a total of just GHC157.6 million to NLA in 2024, for all three contracts. This amount was to be increased annually by just 10% each year. The amount that was to be paid in 2024 represented a paltry 5.2% of the revenue KGL generated from the NLA’s prime business.

The National Lotto Act, 2006 (Act 722) does not allow any private company to operate any form of lottery in Ghana. It makes the operations of lottery in Ghana the sole preserve of the NLA. Section 4(1)-(2) of the law states: “ A person other than the Authority shall not operate any form of lottery.”
“ A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than two thousand and five hundred penalty units or imprisonment for a term of not more than three years or both.”

The law, however, requires the NLA to contract private companies to sell lottery as Lotto Marketing Companies (LMCs).

The NLA Act also requires that all proceeds from the sales of lottery by LMCs should be paid into what is called the Lotto Account of the NLA. From this account, the NLA is then supposed to pay the LMCs a stipulated commission on their sales.

The Fourth Estate’s investigations, however, show that NLA’s contracts with KGL may be special ones. First of all, KGL’s revenue does not go into the Lotto Account. In fact, the NLA does not even know how much KGL makes in sales. Secondly, while the law requires all LMCs to be paid a commission by the NLA, under the contracts, KGL is rather paying the NLA what may be called a commission, but which the contracts describe as a “revenue share.”

In 2024, the NLA was paying LMCs a commission of 25% on their sales. In these exclusive and monopolistic contracts, what KGL paid the NLA in 2024 amounted to just 5.2% of the company’s 2024 revenue.    

Meanwhile, official documents from the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) have revealed that NLA’s revenues have been on a steep decline from GHC366 million in 2015 to GHC296.58 million in 2023.

The Fourth Estate could not obtain figures for 2024, but sources close to the NLA say the NLA’s financial situation was not different in 2024.

As shown in the table below, our analysis indicates that since the contract with KGL, the NLA’s revenues have been going down.

Despite the huge decline in the NLA’s revenue since its deal with KGL, Mr.  Awuku, told The Fourth Estate that he left the NLA in a better financial position than when he took over.

He explained that before he was appointed the Director-General in 2021, the NLA was already in a pilot contract with KGL under which it paid the NLA GHC20 million in 2019 and GHC25 million in 2020 as collaboration revenue. 

He said after the initial contract, there was to be a substantive contract in 2022, under which KGL would have been expected to pay GHC30 million in 2022 and an increment of GHC5 million every year until 2025 when the amount would have increased to GHC45 million.

He stated that instead of sticking with this contract, he renegotiated with KGL and got a better deal.

Mr. Awuku claimed he renegotiated the KGL contract from GHC26 million to GHC173 million even though he did not indicate where the GHC173 million was coming from since this amount does not reflect in the contract document. 

“I believe that under the circumstances, the board got a better deal for the NLA. Nothing stops this [current] board from sitting down and also renegotiating,” he said.  

While Mr. Awuku boasts that he had a better deal with KGL, he admitted that under his leadership NLA did not know how much KGL was making in revenue. It is, therefore, quite curious how Mr. Awuku and his board determined the amount KGL was to pay and on what basis he thinks he got a better deal for the NLA.

He also said the KGL deal took off the burden of payments of wins by the NLA. “Sometimes, you can have 200% wins against you. My time, there was a time I even recorded more than 200% win. My predecessors, some even recorded more. And there are times that is low. So, the average we pay is 55%,” he claimed. Mr. Awuku added that apart from the burden of paying wins, the NLA also has to pay commissions to the LMCs.

The Fourth Estate’s analysis of the NLA’s data shows that the average winnings of 2019 to 2023 is 48%.

Defending the deal, the Group Chairman of KGL said out of the over GHC3 billion his company earned in 2024, the company paid GHC87 million to the Ghana Revenue Authority and claimed GHC176 million was paid to the NLA. Even though he did not disclose any further expenses, he claimed the company made only GHC70 million as profit.

When asked to disclose further details of the company’s expenditure, Mr. Dadey, who is reported in the media as a former Finance Committee Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the UK ahead of the 2016 general elections, declined. “That data, you are not going to get it,” he said.

KGL uses the short code, *959#, to sell the 5/90 lottery and its Group Chairman told The Fourth Estate that the system requires a huge investment, which the NLA lacks.

“The NLA doesn’t have the resources to run the system; this is not a kid’s game. The government doesn’t have the capacity to do what we do. This is technology, and we hold the highest data in this country,” he bragged. “Can the NLA hold that data? Did they prove to you that they could hold such data? The cost of doing this is huge if you want to do it properly.”

Former Board Chairman declines interview

When The Fourth Estate contacted the NLA’s immediate past Board Chairman, Gary Nimako Marfo, he declined to comment and said all the details the team needed were captured in the minutes of the board.

More to come!