Rebecca Paul, President of the World Lottery Association (WLA), has underlined the organisation’s ambition to root out illegal gaming from the lottery industry.
As reported by MyNewsGH, this message was delivered as Paul revealed that nearly $100m from global lottery proceeds have been channelled into Good Causes over the past year.
Speaking at the climax of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Ghana Lottery Authority (NLA) last week, Paul emphasised the societal significance of lotteries and the benefits they are having on communities.
“I am happy to tell you that we spent $92bn in the last year alone raised by lotteries across the globe for Good Causes,” she said.
However, the WLA President then offered a warning over more sinister events in the industry.
“The biggest detriment to what is happening is illegal gaming. They don’t contribute to Good Causes, they don’t pay taxes, they don’t follow the same rules all of us do in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility.
“The World Lottery Association is working on how to prevent illegal gaming across the globe. All of you here in Ghana should be very pleased with the amount of money raised for health, for education and sport.”
At the 2022 World Lottery Summit held in Vancouver, Canada, it was uncovered that illegal lottery activity caused a loss of revenue of a total of $1.8tn in 2022 alone.
Subsequently, the WLA has outlined its efforts to focus more on responsible gaming and good causes in the coming years, and has asked member countries to promote these values.
