Lottery Drawings Goes on an Indefinite Pause

Last night, we told you that the Lotteries Committee has taken a decision to revoke the exclusive license held by Brads Gaming Group Limited (B.G.G.L.) to administer the Government Lotteries. That announcement, via a press release, noted that effective May second, B.G.G.L. is no longer licensed to sell or administer the Government Lotteries. The last lottery draw under the present arrangement will be on April thirtieth. Today, the Lotteries Committee issued a notice informing all agents of Government Lotteries that as of May second they, too, are prohibited from selling Government Lotteries.  The release cautioned against the promotion or sale of any government lottery from that date onward without a valid license. So, as of Sunday, there will be no lottery drawings until further notice. Today we asked Prime Minister John Briceño about this latest development. He was hesitant to speak on the topic because the matter will go before the courts. But, here is what he did tell us.

Reporter

“People just want to know, because you know, Boledo is a national obsession. People want to know how are they, how will they buy their Boledo next week?”

Prime Minister John Briceño

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Well, obviously when, during the pandemic, when they were not selling Boledo for a few weeks, nobody lost their life. So, we want to ensure that whatever is done, we want to ensure that it can be done properly and in a way that the Belizean, that our citizens can benefit from it. And that as much as I can go, because as you know, the former Prime Minister has threatened, sue the government.”

Paul Lopez

“It’s in line with the comments that you’ve made since, you’ve been making since January. I’m just asking if that’s the case, that what we found in January, what we were seeing in January in terms of discrepancies and not following certain policies and requirements as per the agreement, if that remained throughout the months and that’s the main reason why yesterday that revocation.”

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Well, that’s the only reason why I would revoke the license. We cannot revoke a license if the people are living up to the conditions. And we have been meeting with them since last year I think from August and talking to them and pointing out where the deficiencies have been. I wish I could tell you what I feel, but no, I think, that’s as far as I can go, but I can assure you that we want to be able to, whenever we’re able, the government is able to launch the boledo and the lottery, we want to ensure that the majority of the money stays with the government. We want to use it for health. We have to find a way how we could pay for the national health insurance. We have sports that we want to be able to make more monies available. And even health. So it is monies that our country can definitely put to good use.”