The Manager of the Sierra Leone State Lottery Company has told the parliamentary committee on trade and industry that “business has been very bad for the betting and gambling state enterprise, leading to Le8billion loss in 2012 alone”.
Responding to questions, the company’s executive director, Charles Kamara said the company “is surviving on what it’s making on a daily basis”, as they were not getting any funding from government to run it.
Kamara said that for the past ten years their tenant, the National Privatization Commission which currently occupies their building at Tower Hill, had not paid their rent.
The director of operations Beresford Coker said that in order to effectively compete in the betting and gambling industry, the company had introduced a new point of sale terminal machine which connects to the internet to ensure speedy access. He said this had now made their system “a thousand times better as we are now able to meet deadlines in attending to customers”.
The Committee advised the Lotto Management team “to go find ways and work on strategies to make sure the company does not phase out”.
