Local News

National Lottery Authority “rebranding’’

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St. George’s, December 7, 2009 (GIS) – The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has launched a new online lottery system as part of what is being called the “rebranding’’ of the authority.
 
 The Abrazo system was unveiled to the public December 5 at the reopening of the Carenage head office of the NLA, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
 
 Funds raised by the operation of games such as Daily Pick 3, Lotto, Bingo, Super 6 and Scratch, are used to support national sports and cultural development programmes.
 
 The NLA spent more than $389,000 renting premises since losing its headquarters five years ago. Last January, government agreed to an NLA request to vest the Carenage property to the authority.
 
 The government’s move allowed the NLA to secure funding to refurbish the property at a projected cost of $729,940.
 
 “Due to prudent management, we were able to save approximately $60,000 in project expenses,’’ NLA chairman Lingham Samuel announced at the commissioning of the building last Saturday.
 
 Among guests at the event were MP for the Town of St. George, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter David; Sports and Youth Empowerment Minister Patrick Simmons, MP for St. Andrew South-East; Agriculture Minister and MP for St. David, Denis Lett; Housing Minister and MP for St. Andrew North-West, Alleyne Walker; and Senator Chester Humphrey, the labour representative in the Upper House of Parliament.
 
 “Today is indeed an historic one for the NLA,’’ Minister Simmons said in the featured address.
 
 He urged public backing for the National Lottery Authority, “so that it may fulfil its mandate of providing much-needed support for the empowerment of our nation’s youth.’’
 
 Mr. Simmons said the parameters within which the NLA should operate are “well defined,’’ adding that as the “Minister with responsibility for the authority, I am determined to see that the authority functions within those boundaries.’’
 
 The NLA chairman said that many difficulties confronted a new Board of Directors that was constituted in late 2008. The challenges included an inherited debt of nearly $3 million.
 
 Still, he said, the new board has been able to retire $614,000 in arrears in less than a year, and has not retrenched staff.
 
 At the same time, said Mr. Samuel, NLA continued offering sports scholarships to students, contributed $100,000 to the 2009 carnival panorama competition, as well as assisted with the drafting of the proposed National Sports Policy, and is helping with this year’s Carriacou Parang Festival.
 
 During its five-year period of renting, the NLA was a tenant at the National Stadium.
 
 In what Mr. Samuel regarded as an unusual arrangement, the NLA was paying $22,000 each month to the Stadium Authority to cover its security cost.
 
 Beginning next month, the prices of the NLA’s Local Lotto and Daily Pick 3 tickets will increase by one dollar each.
 
 Mr. Samuel said the money raised will help the NLA move to the “next level’’ of “infrastructural development of sports facilities,’’ and providing sportsmen and women with “increased training opportunities.’’
 
 The future plans, according to Mr. Samuel, also include supporting the National Cultural Foundation and the proposed National Sports Council, developing a programme to “incentivize sports and cultural groups who put out efforts to mobilise resources,’’ and assisting with “projects of a developmental character as opposed to providing airline tickets, trophies and medals.’’

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