<<Print>>

The National Lottery Authority (NLA) with its technical partners Tikkex and Merlin, has introduced a new weekly game of chance to boost revenue and transform the lives of patrons with attractive prizes. Dubbed: �Freeky Fortune�, the game allows a player to select eight numbers from one to 56 on a card purchased from a vendor. The player then punches the selected numbers with a digital pen provided by the vendor and writes his mobile phone number on the card. Afterwards, the player ticks the send button on the card and he receives an automated message, on the given mobile phone from the NLAs�s operating servers about the numbers staked with the draw date. Winners of each draw will share the percentage of sales retained in a prize pool. Speaking at the launch, Mr. Kojo Andah, Director General of the NLA said with the innovation, the NLA expected to diversify its product portfolio and sustain revenue growth. �With innovations such as these, we are increasing our lottery revenue year on year, achieving year to date annual growth of close to 30 per cent from the newly introduced point of sale machines,� he said. Mr. Andah said unlike the previous lottery products which were pirated by illegal lottery operators, the Freeky Fortune presented a robust, unique and secured products which could not be replicated. �What is assuring to the NLA this time is that, the illegal operators cannot kill this initiative because of its technological base,� he said. �As a dividend game with a relatively stable and tolerable risk level, it offers attractive wins to its winners. Mr. Andah said NLA together with its partners aimed to distribute 1,000 start-up kits this year to retailing points of sale nationwide to help create new jobs in the economy. In addition, it is expected that an estimated new lottery income of 10 per cent of current gross sales revenue could be generated at maturity by Freeky Fortune. The Freeky Fortune coupons will be on sale from Wednesday, July 4, for the first draw to be held on Friday, July 6.