MINISTER CHRIS FISMER LOTTERIES BILL, 1996

Issued by: SA Communication Service

PRESS RELEASE BY MINISTER CHRIS FISMER LOTTERIES BILL, 1996

I will table the Lotteries Bill in Parliament on Friday 28 June 1996.

This Bill makes provision for the establishment of one single national lottery, which will be run and managed by a non-statal organisation on behalf of the Government. The proceeds derived from be distributed amongst the Reconstruction and Development Programme, charities, sport and recreation, the arts, culture and the national heritage. The percentages allocated to each of these will be established and prescribed once this legislative proposal has been adopted by Parliament and a National Lotteries Board has been established.

The establishment of the National Lottery means that all existing lotteries, including scratch card games, will be prohibited and will hav to cease trading, unless one of the operators conducting these lotteries or games is appointed as the operator of the National Lottery, or unless they operate as one of the other lotteries envisaged in the Bill.

The Bill also provides for:

• small lotteries, incidental to certain exempt entertainments, where the proceeds of that entertainment are devoted to purposes other than private gain, and the prizes are not money prizes, and the result of the lottery is announced at the place of that entertainment
• private lotteries, where the whole proceeds are devoted to the provision of prizes, no person is employed for reward in connection with the lottery; and
• society lotteries, which may be run by societies authorised to collect contributions from the public in terms of the Fund-raising Act 107 of 1978 and the proceeds are devoted to the purposes of the society.

A host of additional strict conditions, inter alia in respect of running costs, the maximum amount of prizes, the frequency of the lottery and the audit of the lottery, will apply to each of these lotteries to ensure the integrity of the lotteries industry and for the protection of the general public who choose to take part in these lotteries.

Together with the National Gambling Bill recently adopted by the National Assembly, this legislation will put the gaming industry in South Africa on a sound footing and will end illegal operations. A well-regulated and policed industry will serve to ensure the maximum benefit to all South Africans.

ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY FOR PROVINCIAL AFFAIRS AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT CAPE TOWN: 27 JUNE 1996

Enquiries: Pieter Erasmus: Telephone (021) 462 1441