Supreme Court sends Lotteries case back to High Court

The Supreme Court Wednesday unanimously ruled that the National Lotto Act 722, 2006, which was assented to on December 27, 2006 for the establishment of the National Lottery Authority, is not in breach of Articles 33(5), 35(1) and 36(2) of the 1992 Constitution, contrary to the assertion of the Ghana Lotto Operators Association.

The five-member panel was chaired by Justice S A Brobbey but the decision was read by Justice Date-Bah.

The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was invoked in the case when the Fast Track High Court Judge sitting on it (case) advised that the matter be sent to the Supreme Court for interpretation as the association had argued that their rights were being infringed upon.

The Supreme Court held that the matters raised by the association were justiciable (capable of being settled in a court) and therefore advised that they should go back to the Fast Track High Court for the final determination of the case.

It further pointed out that although government has the right to regulate and license lotto operators, it should also provide the platform for those who want to operate under it to do so.

The Ghana Lotto Operators Association is challenging the constitutionality of the National Lotto Act 722. In a suit filed at the Supreme Court, the association claimed that Act 722, which outlawed the operations of lotto business by private operators, infringes the constitutionally guaranteed right of the private operators to free economic activity.

According to them, the creation of the National Lottery Authority by the Act to take over and monopolise the operation of the lotto business in Ghana infringes on the constitutional injunction to the government to ensure a pronounced role of the private sector in the economy. It is therefore, praying the Supreme Court to declare Act 722 null and void, "since it is inconsistent with and in contravention of the constitution".

In the substantive matter before an Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Anthony Abadah, the Ghana Lotto Operators Association was seeking a declaration that the directive from the NLA to private lotto operators to surrender their machines and equipment used for the operation of lottery to the Director-General by August 14, 2007 was unconstitutional, illegal and unreasonable.

They were further seeking an injunction to restrain the NLA from their intended action. The court granted them an interlocutory injunction restraining the NLA from interfering with their property rights or lotto operating business.

The judge however, advised that the matter be sent to the Supreme Court for interpretation as the association had argued that members' rights were being infringed upon.

In an interview with The Statesman , members of the association said they had accepted the Supreme Court's decision in good faith. They advised themselves that until the final determination of the case by the Fast Track High Court, they were still in business.