The South African National Lottery just can’t stay out of industry headlines as more drama unfolds around the recently concluded licence tender.
According to Moneyweb, the current but also outgoing licence holder, Ithuba Holdings, has initiated legal proceedings against the government’s decision.
Parks Tau, South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, is the main target of the lawsuit – an interesting development given previous controversies.
The tender for the fourth South African National Lottery licence has been marred in controversy for months, now, as it happens.
This partly stemmed from some concerns that Parks Tau had close links with Ithuba Holdings, which has operated the lottery since winning the 2015 tender.
The government ultimately decided to award the lottery licence to Sizekhaya Holdings, a consortium which counts South African gaming technology group Goldrush Holdings as a majority stakeholder.
This licence will commence in 2026, with Ithuba continuing to operate the lottery under a temporary one year licence. A couple of months down the line, however, it seems Ithuba has decided it is not happy with this arrangement.
According to Moneyweb, Ithuba is arguing that Tau’s decision to extend its contract for 12 months indicates that Sizekhaya had not met the licence tender’s requirement that the lottery licence holder must be prepared for a ‘continuous and seamless’ transition.
This takes the number of lottery-related legal challenges faced by the South African government to two. Serbian company Lekalinga filed a claim in the Pretoria High Court late last month, though the company is only demanding an official statement summarising Tau’s rationale for awaiting Sizekhaya the licence.
Meanwhile, Sizekhaya has not escaped controversy either. The decision to award the firm the licence has been criticised amid allegations that it has close links to the government – particularly the fact that one of its Directors, Khumo Bogatsu, is the sister-in-law of South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile.