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| Gaming Board director general Tarimba Abbas (R) and chairman of Gidani International Limited and Murhandziwa Limited, Prof Bongani Khumalo (L) signs documents. |
Speaking at the signing ceremony for Murhandziwa Limited to run the lottery operations in Dar es Salaam at the weekend, the Gaming Board of Tanzania director general, Tarimba Abbas said apart from raising the money, the pact will help create new jobs for Tanzanians.
Tarimba also said that 4,000 to 7,000 employment opportunities will be raised through different agents that would be placed countrywide.
The GBT boss disclosed that this year’s lottery will be the first largest ever to be played in the country since the winners will take home 1bn/-.
“After the signing of the pact for the operations to commence, we are looking forward for the economy to become vibrant partly because of the gaming activities,” he said.
Tarimba said one of the issues contained in the contract is how to treat unclaimed prizes by winners which will be treated without going into details.
For his part, the chairman of Gidani International Limited and Murhandziwa Limited, Prof Bongani Khumalo said their firm decided to have its operations in Tanzanian because the prevailing business environment allows businesses to invest.
He also said that a good number of Tanzanians will be employed directly by Murhandziwa Limited, and many more thousands will benefit from the spin-off jobs as many suppliers will provide services and goods to Murhandziwa Limited.
“Lotteries will be on run in July this year, with the gaming board of Tanzania hoping to see positive impacts in the economy, like employment creation and tax collections,” he said.
According to him, the firm is immensely assured by the seriousness of the regulatory authority of Tanzania in the form of the Gaming Board, adding that the license has particular stipulations and stringencies in line with the legislation which are aimed at responsible and integral rich participation in the National Lottery.
Murhandziwa Limited, a subsidiary of South African company Gidani International Limited won the tender to run the national lottery for five years.
The investor pledged to inject a total of 70bn/- in three years, which will earn the country about 40bn/- in the first year from various taxes.
Prof Khumalo pointed out that the signing of the contract gives an opportunity to the investor to speed up putting necessary infrastructure to benefit the hosting economy.
“Economic impacts will be felt after we start operations because of the nature of the industry. The gaming industry impacts more on retail trade as experienced in other countries. Many people tend to visit the lottery locations which increase demands of goods and services,” he said.
Currently the gaming industry in Tanzanian contributes 3 per cent to the GDP, which the board hopes to see it increasing when the national lottery rolls.
Gaming Board of Tanzania is a gaming regulatory body which was established under the Gaming Act Cap. 41 and became effective on July 1, 2003. It is responsible for overseeing, monitoring and regulating the conduct of gaming activities in the country.
The Guardian
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