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Bids for SA lottery start rolling in
EMPOWERMENT
BIDDING for South Africa's national lottery, one of the biggest in the world still up for grabs, is set to hot up as consortiums fine-tune their proposals ahead of an October 9 deadline. The Department of Trade and Industry said this week it had received six letters of intent and three enquiries for the tender to operate the country's multi-billion rand lottery. This follows government's request to bidders last Thursday to submit letters of intent by Friday, ahead of a bidders conference on August 6. A final request for proposals, incorporating ideas from the bidders' conference, will be published some time in August. The bidding is scheduled to start in October. A licence may be awarded by February next year and the lottery could be operational by June 1999. The latest development ends months of delays which have already claimed one victim: Internationale des Jeux, the French-based lottery operator which withdrew earlier this year, citing delays in the awarding of the licence. In 1994, global lottery sales were estimated at around $95-billion. Not surprisingly, most of this was spent in Europe ($44.2-billion) and Canada and the US ($33.6-billion). Africa accounted for only 0.5% (or $442-million). Estimates suggest SA sales of between R3- to R5-billion a year. So expect major international players to make strong bids with local empowerment partners. The tender document puts a strong emphasis on empowerment and skills development. US lottery operator G-Tech, successfully accused of bribery in the UK by Richard Branson, this week said it would put in a bid, although it is yet to give details of its SA partners. Automated Wagering International, the second biggest on-line lottery company in the US, is likely to team up with the Mineworkers Investment Company and Hosken Consolidated Investments. Scientific Games is set to announce next week that it wants to put in a joint bid with Games Africa, controlled by Thebe Investments subsidiary Moribo; Don Ncube's Real Africa Investments; and Union Alliance, the union investment company formed by Nail and four Cosatu-affiliated trade unions. International Lottery and Totalizator Systems, which provides an on-line system for the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, has confirmed it will also be making a bid. Many major operators are thought to have shown interest in the lottery, including the Greek-based Intralot and the Swiss group Essnet. Ownership of the lottery is to be split between a private lottery operator (80%), the Post Office (15%) and the National Empowerment Fund. Top of page
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