Uganda’s national lottery operator ITHUBA collapses two years into a decade-long deal

Kampala, — Uganda’s fledgling National Lottery has ground to a halt, after the South African-backed company entrusted to run it for a decade collapsed just two years into the arrangement, leaving the government scrambling to protect players, retailers and staff caught up in the fallout.

ITHUBA Uganda Limited, a subsidiary of South Africa’s ITHUBA Holdings, stopped selling lottery tickets on June 30 and ceased trading altogether the following day, according to the National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board (NLGRB), the state body that licensed the company in 2024.

In a statement released on Thursday, the regulator said it had been in talks with ITHUBA over its “financial and operational position” before receiving formal notice that the company was walking away from the National Lottery business entirely. It insisted that stepping back from operations does not release ITHUBA from its legal obligations under the licence and the underlying concession agreement, and said it was now taking “regulatory and oversight measures” to safeguard government revenue, player winnings, retailer commissions and staff interests.

A licence meant to run until 2033

The collapse marks an unusually abrupt end to what was billed, at its 2024 launch, as a flagship public-private partnership. Uganda’s then-Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, awarded ITHUBA Uganda a 10-year licence to operate the country’s first National Lottery, with the company publicly committing to run the business until 2033. Officials at the time said the deal would keep more than 85 percent of lottery proceeds inside the country, and ITHUBA pledged to invest more than $14.5m in start-up capital, promising jobs, retailer partnerships and eventual funding for public projects, including infrastructure tied to Uganda’s role hosting the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

By its first year of operation, ITHUBA Uganda said it had paid out more than 3.6 billion Ugandan shillings ($965,000) to more than 520,000 winners and had expanded into regional hubs in Mbarara, Mbale and Gulu, while building out distribution through mobile money platforms, USSD codes and point-of-sale terminals in partnership with local fintech firms.

None of that early momentum, however, was enough to keep the business afloat. The NLGRB’s statement gave no detailed public account of what pushed ITHUBA to cease trading, and the company had issued no statement of its own explaining the closure by the time of publication.

Echoes of a rockier handover in South Africa

The Ugandan collapse follows, by only a few weeks, a far larger and more contentious transition involving ITHUBA’s parent company back home. ITHUBA Holdings’ 11-year run as operator of South Africa’s National Lottery ended on May 31, when a new consortium, Sizekhaya Holdings, took over under a licence awarded by the country’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. That handover was followed almost immediately by disputes between the two firms over an “incomplete” data transfer, which left more than a million historical draw records and dozens of jackpot claims in limbo and delayed payouts to winners for weeks.

Analysts who track Africa’s gambling and lottery sector say the back-to-back disruptions – an outgoing operator embroiled in a messy handover in its home market, and a subsidiary collapsing entirely in a smaller, newer market – are likely to sharpen scrutiny of how governments vet operators before granting long-term public licences, particularly in sectors that combine significant cash flows with direct public trust.

What happens to players now

For Ugandan players, the immediate concern is more practical: what happens to money already staked, and to prizes already won but not yet claimed. The NLGRB said all outstanding matters – including player wallet balances, unsettled prize claims, company records and other operational liabilities – remain subject to regulatory supervision and due legal process, and it directed players with pending claims to contact ITHUBA through its official channels, by phone on 0800334433 or by email at info@nationallottery.go.ug.

The regulator said it would issue further public guidance “as necessary” as it works through what it described as an effort to secure “an orderly, accountable, and legally compliant outcome” – language that leaves open, for now, key questions about the timeline for resolving claims, the fate of ITHUBA’s roughly 600 retail partners, and whether a new operator will eventually be brought in to revive a lottery that had only just begun to find its footing.