Dr  Razak Kojo Opoku, a former Director of Communications at the National  Lottery Authority (NLA), has described as “false and misleading” a report by The Fourth Estate claiming that the NLA made a profit of GHC 37 million for the state in 2018.

According to Dr. Opoku, the claim is inconsistent with the Authority’s financial reality at the time.

He clarified that in 2018, the NLA did not declare any profit, as the institution had not settled key financial obligations, including payments to lotto winners, commissions owed to Lotto Marketing Companies (LMCs), and outstanding fees to Technical Service Providers.

“It is absolutely false that NLA made a profit of GHC 37 million for the state in 2018.

How can a company claim profit when it has not finished paying its winners, LMCs, and service providers?” he stated.

Dr. Opoku emphasised that what actually occurred in 2018 was a transfer of GHC 33.9 million (GHC 33,927,000) to the state through the Consolidated Fund, not a declaration of profit.

He further explained that the NLA-KGL partnership deal—which The Fourth Estate allegedly linked to earlier financial outcomes—was only signed provisionally in November 2019, and therefore could not have influenced NLA’s 2018 financials.

In 2019, the first year of the KGL deal, NLA transferred GHC 16.9 million (GHC 16,962,000) to the Consolidated Fund. Dr. Opoku attributed the reduction to several operational challenges, including:

Higher winning ratios exceeding 80%;

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sales;

Increased staff strength;

Rising commissions and service provider payments; and

Proliferation of illegal lottery operations across Ghana.

He drew a comparison with 2014, when the NLA transferred GHC 11.8 million (GHC 11,850,000) to the Consolidated Fund—years before KGL began operations—to underline that the company could not have influenced past financial results.

“Perhaps The Fourth Estate and its team of ‘agendapreneurs’ should verify whether KGL was operating in 2014 before drawing such conclusions,” Dr. Opoku quipped.

The statement concludes with a call for accurate reporting and responsible journalism in matters concerning state institutions and public accountability.