Lotto Company on “month to month” licence …Gov’t mulls new players in industry

- Gov’t considers tendering for other franchise

By Latoya Giles
Several years after Canadian Bank Note, holders of the national lottery franchise, was given a “month to month” licence to operate, Government has signaled its intention to go back to tender for another franchise. This announcement was made on Saturday by Head of State, Donald Ramotar at a press conference.
According to Ramotar, there should be some consideration on going out back to tender to see whether Government could get a better deal. The president said that Canadian Bank Note, which works through its subsidiary, the Guyana Lottery Company (GLC), has been in Guyana for quite some time and as such the company has not been given a “long term” commitment.
The president said that Government needs to see if it could get a better deal. He added that several countries within the Caribbean have written to the government stating an interest. “I have several letters to this effect which I have given to the Ministry of Finance,” the president told Kaieteur News.
Early last year a motion which had challenged the constitutionality and legality of the government’s deposit of proceeds from the lottery into a Developmental Fund, popularly referred to as the “Lotto Fund”, was thrown out by the High Court.
The motion was taken to the court by APNU Member of Parliament, Desmond Trotman.
According to court documents, Justice Diana Insanally had ruled that the motion was misconceived and struck it out. Trotman was represented by Mr. Miles Fitzpatrick, S.C. and Mr. Christopher Ram.
Trotman’s motion had questioned whether Article 216 of the Constitution and Sections 21 and 38 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003 require that all monies paid to the Government of Guyana by the Guyana Lottery Company Limited under an agreement made between the said Government and Canadian Bank Note Limited and/or the Guyana Lottery Company for the conduct of a lottery in Guyana to be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
Secondly, the motion sought to clarify whether the monies received by the government from the Guyana Lottery Company Limited ought to have been paid in the past and ought to be paid in the future into the Consolidated Fund.
It had also asked for a declaration that the failure of the government to pay into the Consolidated Fund all the monies received from the GLC under the said agreement is unconstitutional and illegal.
The Attorney General said that Mr. Carl Greenidge had moved a motion in the Parliament last year seeking to compel the Minister of Finance to deposit these monies directly into the Consolidated Fund. His contention was that it was unlawful and unconstitutional to deposit it elsewhere.
In debating this motion in the National Assembly, he said that Government argued that the motion was misconceived and that the provisions of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, Article 216 of the Constitution, and the Lotteries Act permit those monies to be kept outside of the Consolidated Fund and in a Development Fund.