The new operators of SA's National Lottery (Lotto) may miss an ambitious deadline to re-launch the competition in early October, as thousands of vendors still need training on the use of 8 000 new Lotto machines.
New operator Gidani has invested about R500 million in infrastructure nationwide and, with two weeks to go before launch, network services provider MTN has been tasked with providing vendor training.
"We are investing heavily in training," says MTN acting GM for marketing Natasha Basson, adding that MTN's internal training capacity will be used for exercise. However, there is no indication whether the mobile operator will be able to meet the provisional 6 October deadline.
The network services contract was previously held by iBurst, which provided services to the Lotto's first operator, Uthingo. Government's decision to award the Lotto to a new operator meant Uthingo's entire infrastructure had to be replaced, before the new incumbent could resume operations.
MTN was awarded a three-year contract to support Gidani as network provider and will do so through GPRS technology, where voice and data is transmitted via a wireless network. Basson says it is difficult for the cellular operator to attach a monetary value to the contract at this stage, as it will vary from month to month, depending on how much data and voice is transmitted over the network.
The Gidani consortium, led by Bongani Khumalo, rolled out its hardware and networks nearly six months ago, when it was awarded the seven-year contract.
However, legal wrangling delayed the restart of the Lotto, as trade and industry minister Mandisi Mpahlwa was forced to revaluate the initial allocation of the licence. This was after the courts found he had "not applied his mind thoroughly" in awarding it to the consortium. At the time, Gidani was accused of having strong links to government figures. Mpahlwa subsequently dismissed this.
Technical components ready
Last week, Gidani received the green light and indicted it wanted the Lotto to be operational within two weeks. This would set the first draw date in a week-and-a-half's time, on or around Saturday, 6 October.
"Working off two data centres (one for the primary operation and another for disaster recovery), all our technical components are ready and tested," says Thembi Tulwana, public affairs executive for Gidani. "This includes a central operation system, the main software to run the lottery games, and our data networks. We have 7 626 terminals installed at points of sale, ready to issue tickets."
Gidani initially predicted it would make R40 million profit a year from the Lotto, but Khumalo says this will now have to be reassessed in light of the long wait to re-launch services.
Bobby Frisby, former Lotto operator Uthingo's spokesman, says the old equipment could not be sold to Gidani as "a stipulated requirement in the request for proposals was that all central system hardware and other equipment to be used by the successful applicant must be new".
To date, the Lotto is estimated to have created 600 millionaires in SA, with a total of about 9 000 winners having received about R4.6 billion since 2000.
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