Following a court ruling in early March of this
year that brought the South African lottery to a standstill, big money jackpots
appear to be right around the corner. With a re-examination of company
shareholdings complete amongst lottery partners Intralot and Gidani, South
Africa's 43 million citizens will soon have a chance to play the National
Lottery once again. Intralot has reported that its partner, Gidani, is ready to
begin operations without delay, and hopes to have 11,000 points of sale in South
Africa within three years.
Now holding a seven year, eight month lottery
license, Gidani has a future filled with potential. Intralot, who is a majority
shareholder in Gidani, has already published a plan for taking the lottery
forward, including an installation and training system on the new Coronis
lottery terminals and Lotus operating system. 7,500 terminals have already been
installed while 27,000 people have been trained to operate the new machines.
With Intralot in control of the training and
transactions, Gidani will be responsible for operating and expanding the lottery
into more lottery shops, convenience stores, cafes, post offices and
supermarkets. A network of 7,626 retailers will be offering lottery tickets from
the get go, and an additional 3,000 more retailers will likely do the same
within the next three years.
An ambitious task to say the least, Gidani plans to
increase the number of lottery retailers by offering better commissions and
charging less. Furthermore, Gidani says that "good causes" will benefit even
more with increased lottery funds.