The Gaming Commission of Ghana (GAC) has revoked the licences of sports betting companies; Lollibet and SafariBet Sports Betting after preliminary findings showed that their operations contravened the Gaming Act of 2006.
The GCA has also commenced further investigations into the operations of the two companies after preliminary findings found that they had flouted Section 46 of the Gaming Act, 2006 (Act 721).
The Commission in a public notice warned that it will not be held liable if anyone deals with the two companies despite the revocation.
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Section 46 which deals with the revocation of a gambling machine licence by the Board of the commission states that;
46. The Board may revoke a licensee granted under section 43 if
(a) the Board is satisfied that the license has contravened or failed to comply with the terms or conditions of the license or a requirement of this Act,
(b) the Board is satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so;
or
(c) the licensee is convicted of an offence in relation to a gambling machine.
Confirming the revocation of both licences in an interview with Graphic Online, the Public Affairs Manager of the Gaming Commission of Ghana, Ms Beatrice Baiden said the licences will remain revoked until the investigations are over.
“The Commission is currently investigating, the operations of Safaribet and Lollobet based on Section 46 of the Gaming Act. If their operations breached the Act, the Commission has the right to revoke their licence of operation,” Ms Baiden said.
Lollibet
In the case of Lord of the Bet which trades under the name Lollibet, a GCG notice said it has not been issued with a gaming licence and cannot operate any games of chance in the country till further notice.
“The general public is hereby advised not to conduct any form of betting on Lollibet’s platform or at any of their shops and branches,” the statement said.
SafariBet
For African Gaming and Entertainment which trades as SafariBet Sports Betting, reasons were not provided for their ban but the Commission has warned that anyone who deals with both companies does so at their own risk.
“The general public is hereby advised not to conduct any form of betting on Safaribet’s Betting platform or at any of their shops and branches,” the statement said.
However, it will be recalled that a bet winner with Safaribet, Mr Theophilus Morgan petitioned the Commission over Ghȼ57 million bet winnings.
According to Mr Morgan, he placed a bet which ran from November 7 – November 11, 2018, and involved 24 games which he repeated for 220 times, all of which resulted in a win.
His predictions comprised of games from EPL, Champions League, Italian Serie A and Europa League.
He said he was getting ready to withdraw his money only to realise his account had been blocked by the betting company, SafariBet.
Morgan then stormed one of the offices of SafariBet to find out why his account has been blocked after several hours at the offices.
His account was reactivated again, only for the betting company to reduce his actual win from Ghȼ57 million to Ghȼ286,991.
