The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) has failed to convince the High Court in Pretoria to allow Ithuba to be granted a temporary licence of 12 months while the new operator Sizekhaya is still preparing to take over.

The NLC has argued that that unless the incumbent operator Ithuba is given 12-month temporary licence, lottery sales will stop from the 1st of June.

The court had earlier ruled that Ithuba can only operate the lotto for five months.

However, Ithuba says it will not be financially feasible to operate the national lottery for that period, it wants a temporary licence of at least another 12 months.

[WATCH] The National Lotteries Commission has lost its bid to extend Ithuba’s operating licence. Ithuba Holdings’ original licence expired on 31 May 2023, but the commission extended the contract for two years until today. SABC News Economics editor Tshepo Mongoai provides more… pic.twitter.com/bS87GXcF0n

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The court has dismissed the application by the NLC and upheld the previous judgment.

One of the unsuccessful bidders for the lottery licence, Wina Njalo, launched the initial court proceedings.

Wina Njalo had argued that there’s enough reserves to continue paying beneficiaries should the lottery had to temporarily shut down.

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