{"id":10439,"date":"2025-10-14T04:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=10439"},"modified":"2026-04-19T12:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T15:58:07","slug":"burundi-accelerates-2035-plan-as-lona-transforms-into-sole-gambling-regulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/burundi-accelerates-2035-plan-as-lona-transforms-into-sole-gambling-regulator","title":{"rendered":"Burundi accelerates 2035 plan as LONA transforms into sole gambling regulator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

National Lottery partners with NSoft to deploy a national Gambling Management System, phase out commercial operations and strengthen oversight ahead of 2035 regulatory transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Burundi.- Burundi<\/strong> is accelerating its 2035 plan<\/strong> as the National Lottery of Burundi (LONA)<\/strong> begins its transition into the country\u2019s sole gambling regulator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with technology firm NSoft<\/strong>, the agency is rolling out a phased modernisation strategy<\/strong>, deploying a national Gambling Management System (GMS)<\/strong>, expanding digital oversight and building strategic regional partnerships to enhance transparency and strengthen control across the country\u2019s gambling sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central to the overhaul is the partnership with NSoft to implement the GMS. The system will monitor lotteries, sports betting, horse racing<\/strong> and online platforms<\/strong>, with plans to include casino operations in the next phase. Designed to improve transparency, ensure accurate revenue reporting and strengthen compliance enforcement, the GMS is a cornerstone of LONA\u2019s modernisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LONA said, according to African Media Agency: \u201cThe implementation of NSoft\u2019s technological governance <\/strong>solutions to oversee the gambling sector in Burundi is a key step in our revenue-mobilisation strategy and in the restoration of our digital sovereignty<\/strong>. We are confident that we can now achieve our objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of this transformation, LONA is systematically phasing out commercial operations<\/strong>, including scratch tickets and gaming venues, letting existing concession contracts run their course. The agency will now focus on regulating existing gambling businesses and, under its future framework, licensing selected operators to ensure compliance<\/strong> and safeguard integrity<\/strong> across the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LONA added: \u201cThe agency is set to transform into a Gambling Regulatory Agency, aiming to bring greater transparency<\/strong> and security to the country\u2019s gambling sector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fraud prevention and regulatory measures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security emphasised that tackling fraudulent gambling activities<\/strong> remains central to the restructuring. Industry specialists highlight LONA\u2019s comprehensive regulatory measures as a potential model for other African nations<\/strong> seeking to grow the gambling sector responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burundi\u2019s gambling sector operates under the 2008 Penal Code<\/strong>, which prohibits most forms of gambling. LONA functions under a government-sanctioned exception, overseeing authorised lotteries, online platforms and licensed operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond national reforms, Burundi is collaborating with the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/strong> to modernise gambling oversight. The partnership focuses on knowledge exchange, regulatory harmonisation and enhanced transparency, supporting cooperation on oversight and regulation across borders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As 2035 approaches, LONA\u2019s transformation is no longer just a policy goal; the agency is actively implementing measures to ensure a transparent, technologically advanced and regionally aligned<\/strong> gambling sector by the mid-2030s.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Gabon orders all gambling operators to join regulatory E-TECH platform<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Lottery partners with NSoft to deploy a national Gambling Management System, phase out commercial operations and strengthen oversight ahead of 2035 regulatory transformation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2809,"featured_media":2991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Burundi's National Lottery (LONA) is undergoing a significant transformation, transitioning from a commercial operator to the nation's sole gambling regulator by 2035. This involves deploying a national Gambling Management System (GMS) with NSoft to enhance digital oversight, revenue reporting, and compliance across various gaming verticals, while systematically phasing out LONA's own commercial operations. The initiative aims to strengthen regulatory control, prevent fraud, and establish a transparent, technologically advanced sector, with regional cooperation efforts also underway.","focusai_entities":"National Lottery of Burundi (LONA), NSoft, Ministry of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security, African Media Agency, Democratic Republic of Congo","focusai_location":"Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.7), tech_data (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"GMS Implementation Challenges","query":"What specific technical and operational challenges might NSoft and LONA encounter during the full-scale deployment and integration of the Gambling Management System across all specified gaming verticals, particularly regarding legacy system compatibility and data migration?"},{"label":"Impact on Existing Operators","query":"How will LONA's transition to a sole regulator and the phasing out of its commercial operations impact the existing concession contracts and the competitive landscape for currently licensed B2C operators in Burundi?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60014,60019],"tags":[60576,60575,60033],"class_list":["post-10439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-africa","category-regulation-news","tag-gambling-management-system","tag-nsoft","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10439"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10477,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10439\/revisions\/10477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}