New national lottery operator promises to transfer IP to government
The arrangement will allow the government to take over lotto operations and run them internally.
South Africa.- Newly appointed National Lottery operator, Sizekhaya Holdings, has pledged to transfer its intellectual property to the government when its licence term ends.
Sizekhaya emerged as the preferred bidder for the National Lottery and Sports Pool licence after a highly competitive and contentious bidding process. The Goldrush-backed consortium will take over from Ithuba as the fourth national operator on June 1, 2026.
A key aspect of Sizekhaya’s proposal that likely impressed the evaluators was its offer to return its intellectual property to the government once its licence expires. This arrangement will allow the government to take over lotto operations and run them internally.
Moses Tembe, Sizekhaya Holdings chairperson, said: “We have promised to hand over the intellectual property of our lottery design, development and execution to the government for insource capacity to run the Lotto at the end of our tenure. This and many reasons are why we believe we won the right to operate the Lotto for the next eight years.”
There are several ways a state-run lottery will benefit the government. First, it would have more direct control over the operation, allowing for the implementation of transparency and accountability measures. Operating lotto in-house would also enable the government to retain more revenue and directly allocate funds to specific social causes or initiatives.
It also means that there won’t be a licence bidding process, which has proven to be controversial and prone to disputes. However, with Sizekhaya’s contract set to run for eight years, it’s still a long wait for the government. Before then, new developments or changes in the market may alter the planned transition.
