Uplifting communities through lotteries

The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) is the only national regulator for lotteries and sports pools in South Africa. The Commission regulates the National Lottery Operator, society lotteries, private lotteries, and lotteries incidental to exempt entertainment.

The National Lotteries Commission was established under the Lotteries Amendment Act (No 32 of 2013) to regulate the national lottery and other lotteries. It evolved out of the National Lotteries Board, which was established in terms of the Lotteries Act No 57 of 1997.

The work of the National Lotteries Commission includes ensuring that the interests of all participants in lotteries are protected. It also ensures that all lotteries are conducted with due propriety and regulates and polices all lottery-type schemes. The NLC monitors and regulates the running of various lottery competitions, including those organised by non-profit organisations to raise funds and by companies to promote their goods and services. The Commission’s regulatory role includes private lotteries. These are defined as any game, scheme, arrangement, system, plan, promotional competition, or device for distributing prizes by lot or chance and any game, scheme, arrangement, system, plan, competition, or device that the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition may, by notice, in the Gazette declare to be a lottery.

The Commission aims to be a global innovative leader in regulating safe and sustainable lotteries and sports pools. It works to ensure better regulation and social upliftment through innovation. The National Lotteries Commission has a national footprint with nine provincial offices and a total staff complement of 319 employees. Through its work, 9 295 jobs were created and 333 004 secondary beneficiaries were created in the 2019/ 2020 financial year.

A GRANT FUNDER

Along with its regulatory function, the NLC also serves an essential role in social upliftment in South Africa. The National Lotteries Commission serves as a grant funder, providing non-profit organisations with funding to create and run projects that improve the lives of everyday South Africans.

“Our grant funding focuses mainly on areas that require enough support to be able to bring growth and change within impoverished communities. The impact of our grant funding model is designed in a manner that plays a pertinent role in profoundly changing people’s lives. We, as a Commission, are guided by a strict mandate, that governs our operations and helms the model of our grant funding,” says National Lotteries Commissioner Thabang Charlotte Mampane.

The National Lotteries Commission is the largest grand funder, reaching more than 6000 applicants and almost 2500 beneficiaries in the 2019/2020 financial period.

Over R30-billion has been distributed to good causes, since the National Lotteries Commission’s inception. More than 90% of grants were disbursed within 60 days of the prescribed timeframes, exceeding the target.

FUNDING SOCIAL UPLIFTMENT

The National Lotteries Commission uses the revenue collected from regulatory activities, to distribute to good causes.

Non-profit entities working for the public good are eligible for funding from the National Lotteries Commission. This covers a wide range of organisations including:

• Non-profit organisations

• Non-governmental organisations

• Section 21 companies

• Public benefit trusts

• Sporting bodies and sports clubs

• Educational institutions

• Recreational clubs; and

• Cultural bodies

The National Lotteries Commission has three categories for funding: small, medium, and large grants. Small grants are issued up to R500 000, while medium and large grants range from R500 000 to R10-million.

“Eligible organisations range from national structures right down to small community groups.

We not only welcome applications from small organisations, but actively encourage them,” says Ms Mampane.

The National Lotteries Commission does not adjudicate applications for funding or make allocations to organisations. This is done by committees known as distributing agencies which are also appointed by the Minister of Trade Industry and Competition, in conjunction with other relevant ministers, after a process of public nomination.

The National Lotteries Commission provides administrative support to the distributing agencies.

The mission of the NLC is to regulate all lotteries and sports pools with integrity and ensure the protection of all participants; maximise revenue for good causes in a responsible manner; and distribute funds equitably and expeditiously.

CREATING A PLATFORM FOR COMMUNITY ARTS

Along with social upliftment, the National Lotteries Commission also promotes the preservation and development of arts, culture and heritage in order to empower communities to help themselves and enable artists to showcase their work internationally.

This sector funds the development of the arts and the preservation of South African culture and national heritage. The concept of national heritage is a broad one, which includes our natural environmental heritage as well as historical and architectural heritage.

SERVING IN AN ADVISORY CAPACITY

Other responsibilities of the National Lotteries Commission include advising the Minister of Trade Industry and Competition on policy matters relating to the National Lottery and other lotteries. The National Lotteries Commission’s members are also trustees of the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF), into which National Lottery proceeds that are intended for allocation to good causes are deposited.

THE NATIONAL LOTTERY

The Commission’s functions include overseeing the administration of the National Lottery.

The National Lotteries Commission advises the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition on the issuing of the license to conduct the National Lottery and ensures that the National Lottery is conducted with all due propriety.

The National Lottery is operated by ITHUBA Holdings (RF) Proprietary Limited, which was appointed as the official National Lottery operator of South Africa by the National Lotteries Commission in 2015.

The National Lotteries Commission also ensures that the interests of every participant in the National Lottery are adequately protected; that the net proceeds of the National Lottery are as large as possible; and administers the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

The National Lottery has offered increasingly bigger jackpots that have been won by ordinary South Africans, which have resulted in impactful contributions to socio-economic development through the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

BUILDING ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS

In line with its mandate, vision and mission, the National Lotteries Commission’s formulation of programme activities and targets is aligned to the political, social and economic realities of South Africa. The National Lotteries Commission’s role and function requires the Commission to support, both directly and indirectly, the mandate of government. The South African government’s priorities, mapped out in the National Development Plan, provides a significant opportunity for the National Lotteries Commission to contribute toward social development and social upliftment.

The National Lotteries Commission, through its mandate, ensures that funds are distributed to qualifying beneficiaries. Sectors funded by the National Lotteries Commission contribute to job creation, rural development, infrastructure development, and promoting wellness, and social cohesion – all aligning to the objectives of the National Development Plan’s objectives of eliminating poverty and reducing inequality by 2030 while stimulating economic growth.

More than half of the funding distributed by the National Lotteries Commission went to rural areas and 43% of funding was distributed to urban townships. In the 2019/2020 financial year, the National Lotteries Commission funded worthy causes amounting to R1.3 billion. “In a country plagued by poverty, unemployment, and inequality, achieving the vision of the National Lotteries Commission is critical. Catalysing social upliftment remains at the forefront of our collective minds as we pursue the everyday efforts that culminate in large scale change,” says Ms Mampane.

HONESTY AND TRANSPARENCY

The National Lotteries Commission’s resilient and robust government risk and compliance procedures ensure that all its initiatives were handled with integrity. The Commission aims to provide a level of service that is of high quality and target-based while meeting the expectations of all stakeholders. The National Lotteries Commission also aims to be sensitive to the needs of the community in order to initiate social upliftment. The National Lotteries Commission continues to process grant applications and approved payments for projects to support the sustainability of beneficiaries and assist those organisations in responding to the needs in their communities.

In its efforts to promote honesty and transparency, 100% of all identified and reported illegal lottery schemes were investigated by the National Lotteries Commission in the 2019/2020 financial year. In addition, 40 organisation-wide compliance and ethics interventions were carried about – more than ten times that of the previous year. “We remain steadfast in our duty to protect the public through effective governance, compliance enforcement, monitoring and evaluation, and the continued fight against fraud and corruption. The development and implementation of an appropriate corporate governance framework has been endorsed at the National Lotteries Commission. The application of the principles of effective corporate governance is at work at the National Lotteries Commission, and is practiced consistently throughout the organisation,” says Ms Mampane. The National Lotteries Commission has been recognised by the Auditor- General of South Africa at the Clean Audit Awards for achieving clean audits for the National Lotteries Commission, the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund, and the National Lotteries Participant’s Trust.

The organisation has continued to seek out cost-saving measures and enforce sound internal control mechanisms to achieve 93% performance and clean audit opinions.

LEADERSHIP

The National Lotteries Commission is overseen by a board, appointed by the Minister of Trade Industry and Competition. The board is mandated to assign management and other functions or delegate its powers or functions to the commissioner or the commission.

The latest board consists of Willie Hofmeyr, a former Head of the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit, Dr Cassius Lubisi, Precious Mvulane, and Beryl Ferguson. They took up their appointments in March 2022 and will hold the office for a year.

The Minister has the option to nominate a fifth member as his representative on the board.