Lotto: Operators back Adebutu over Kashamu as firms fight dirty over betting game rights

The clash between betting and gambling firms owned by a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, Senator Buruji Kashamu; and billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Sir Kensington Adebutu, has got messier.

While Adebutu owns Premier Lotto, Western Lotto belongs to Kashamu.

The battle between the companies over the rights to a Ghana-based game, leading to a N500bn suit, is now being resolved by the House of Representatives.

The House of Representatives had begun its intervention in the crisis on Tuesday. Its Committee on Inter-Governmental Affairs had met with stakeholders in the industry in Abuja, asking that a new date be fixed, pending the time the panel studied the submissions made to it.

Our correspondent obtained some of the presentations to the committee.

At the hearing were the National Lottery Regulatory Commission and Nigerian Licensed Lottery Operators’ Forum, as well as various lottery firms. Premier Lotto was represented by Ajibola Adebutu and Adebisi Adebutu, while Western Lotto was represented by its Chief Operating Officer, Usman Tajudeen; and Managing Director, Olumide Adedeji.

The House had, on March 18, resolved to intervene in the crisis.

The resolution to settle the rift was based on a motion moved by a member of the House, Akin Alabi, who equally owns a sports betting company, NairaBet, and is, incidentally, chairman of the committee.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had gone after Premier Lotto, based on a petition by Western Lotto, alleging crimes ranging from tax fraud to economic sabotage. The Kashamu-owned company had also petitioned the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

Western Lotto had also dragged the NLRC and 24 lottery operators, including Premier Lotto, before a Federal High Court over alleged infringement of its intellectual property rights to a gaming product known as ‘Ghana Games.’

In his submission earlier, Chairman of the NLLOF, Chima Onwuka, stated that “the problem is not between Western Lotto and Premier Lotto; it is a problem between Western Lotto and Nigerian lottery operators.”

He also lamented that the forum had been allegedly excluded from a negotiation between the NLRC and Western Lotto, despite the latter taking all of them to court.

The operators, in their written presentations, noted that the National Lottery Authority Ghana and its agent, Association of Lotto Marketing Companies, make no contribution to the development of lottery in Nigeria and have no stake in the process of lottery management and business in the country.

The NLLOF said, “The Ghana Games numbers are considered free-to-air as the numbers are freely available and used by many countries along the West African coast. No effort or value of any kind has been introduced by Western Lotto to the lottery process to warrant making him a beneficiary or recipient of royalty payment.

“In view of the fact that NLRC and NLA, Ghana were previously in discussions, which broke down due to computation of each party’s entitlements, it is unpatriotic and immoral for an operator to seek to circumvent the regulator for self- serving purposes.

“The only neutral arbiter in any industry is the regulator and lottery operators oppose the use of a consultant, which will effectively be duplication of functions of the NLRC and unnecessary expenses to the government.”

According to it, the matter of remittance (or not) of royalty to Ghana is uncomplicated and devoid of technicalities that warrant the appointment of a consultant that will “merely serve as a smokescreen for perpetuating shady deals.”

The operators stated that it was aware that Western Lotto had allegedly made no remittance to NLRC or the National Lottery Trust Fund from inception of its business to date, “in clear violation of the provisions of the Lotteries Act.”

The forum also said it would be a collective affront to other compliant lottery operators that had been performing obligations under the Act if the NLRC entered into an exclusive agreement with Western Lotto to the detriment of other operators. Punch