National Lottery closed,350 lose jobs

The National Lottery and Gaming Authority (NLGA), a government agency that regulates gambling, has confirmed that National Lottery Group Limited—a Hong Kong company that was licensed to operate the Malawi National Lottery, has closed down, rendering 350 people jobless.

NLGA Chairperson Scolastica Chidyaonga told The Business Times yesterday that MNL has ceased operations in the country through "voluntary liquidation".

"They have said that the money they invested in the country is not giving them enough revenue. In other words they are making losses and not profits," said Chidyaonga.

She said for the past three months, the company has been making losses as indicated in their financial records.

Chidyaong a said following the development, the NLGA board met in Lilongwe on Tuesday where they agreed on the decision made by MNL.

"As a regulator, we gave them a licence to operate but the decision to close down is entirely up to them depending on their performance on the market," she said.

On prizes yet to be claimed by winners, Chidyaonga said that will now be handled by NLGA as a regulator.

"We understand that there are some players who are yet to claim their prizes. This will be taken over by the National Lottery and Gaming Authority," she said.

MNL closed shop last week Friday when it stopped its weekly programme on MBC Television but only issued a statement on Monday, stating that it had stopped both lotto and instant games such as gold bars, lucky coins, instant blackjack and lucky seven.

"Please be kindly informed that the instant games/scratch N' win Gold Bars, Lucky Coins, Instant Blackjack and Lucky Seven have been ended on July 27, 2012 (Friday). The lotto game has also been ended after the draw on the same day until further notice.

"Any tickets of the above instant games that were sold or scratched after this Friday, and any Lotto game tickets sold after this Friday, shall not be eligible for claiming any prize payout thereafter," read the statement in part.

For the past month, the company has been closing down its outlets across the country. MNL Chief Executive Allen Cheng described the closures as normal.

Three weeks ago, Cheng told our sister paper The Daily Times that the company was re-organising itself to improve its management.

However, efforts to reach Cheng or some of the company's senior officials for their comment proved futile as their phones went unanswered.

MNL opened its doors in December last year and has since then given out cash prizes in millions of kwacha.

The company employed 350 people and created 1,000 other jobs through retailer and distributor agents across the country.

Apart from Malawi, the company also operates in Mexico, Colombia, Georgia, Macau, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea.

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