Ghana’s National Lottery Authority revenue up 12% in 2025
By the end of 2025, the authority had surpassed its 2024 performance by about 12 percentage points.
Ghana.- Ghana’s National Lottery Authority (NLA) recorded a 12 per cent increase in revenue in 2025, marking a turnaround from years of declining performance, director general Mohammed Abdul-Salam has revealed.
Speaking in an interview, Abdul-Salam said the growth followed urgent reforms introduced after he assumed office in early 2025, when the institution was grappling with operational and financial challenges.
According to him, revenue performance between 2019 and 2024 had been on a downward trajectory, which he described as “candle growth” — a steady decline that risked pushing the authority towards collapse. He said: “When we came in, we realised the fundamentals were broken. You cannot run a lottery system without prioritising payment of winnings and commissions.”
The DG disclosed that the NLA had inherited arrears in statutory obligations, including unpaid pension contributions and outstanding commissions to lotto operators. These gaps, he explained, had weakened trust in the system and discouraged participation.
To reverse the trend, management prioritised prompt payment of winnings and commissions, alongside ensuring compliance with statutory deductions. The move, he noted, restored confidence among stakeholders and boosted activity across the lottery network.
By the end of 2025, the authority had surpassed its 2024 performance by about 12 percentage points, shifting from a negative to a positive growth curve. Early indicators from 2026 suggest continued recovery, with first-quarter performance also exceeding the same period last year.
Abdul-Salam added that the reforms are part of a broader strategy to reposition the NLA as a key revenue-generating institution for the state, stressing that sustained growth would depend on technological upgrades and improved regulatory enforcement.
