The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has trained 11 Banker-to-Banker operators in the mainstream lottery business.
The 11 were standing trial at the Accra Circuit Court for operating illegal lottery, popularly known as Banker-to-Banker.
They were part of 17 persons arrested during a swoop in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region and were discharged on the grounds that they would not revert to the Banker-to-Banker operations.
The operators, who have undergone training at the National Lottery Authority (NLA) Training School, expressed excitement at the authority’s decision to regularise them as retailers and withdraw the charges against them.
In an interview two of the discharged operators, Madam Janet Kisiwa and Mr Dennis Kwesi Boakye said they had thought that obtaining a Point of Sale Terminal (POST) from the NLA was cumbersome. They urged their colleagues to desist from the illegal operations and join the NLA to enjoy prompt payment of commissions.
The Director General of the NLA, Brigadier General Martin Ahiaglo (retd), commended the new recruits for coming on board to help contribute to national development.
He said the NLA did not take delight in prosecuting culprits and that was why the accused persons were given the opportunity to be trained and given NLA posts so they could sell lotto tickets the right way.
In Accra, additional seven persons arrested in a swoop have also been regularised.
The court ordered that the accused persons should use the GH¢6,155.00 retrieved from them during the swoop to augment the retail of lotto on the posts allocated to them.