Contrary to his claim that he is fighting other lotto operators in the country because they are short changing the Federal Government, it has been discovered that indeed it is Senator Buruji Kashamu and his Western Lotto Company who have been depriving government of its revenue for many years.
Investigations revealed that Senator Kashamu has always put his personal interest ahead of the economic interest of the country.
In his obsession to own exclusive rights over the Ghana Games in Nigeria, Kashamu and his Western Lotto will stop at nothing to achieve his aim however illegal. He was even prepared to undermine the economic interests of the country.
One of such action was approaching the Ghanaian authorities to come to Nigeria and start collecting money from Nigerians. It is on record that Nigerian games are played in Ghana but no Ghanaian has come to Nigeria to ask the Nigerian authorities to collect money from Ghanaians.
“This is a man who has not approached the Nigerian regulatory authorities to guide them towards a bilateral agreement with Ghana on how to generate revenue for the government through the Ghana and Nigerian Games played in both countries. Rather, he plied a self- serving route that will benefit him personally even if it means Nigeria and Nigerians lose money Yet he wants to be seen as a friend of government. What an irony!” sources told this medium.
Indeed it is a sad irony that someone claiming to be sympathiser of the Government working assiduously to deprive it of its legitimate revenue.
Sources at the National Lotteries Regulatory Commussion( NLRC) said Kashamu’s Western Lotto is owing several years backlog of statutory fees and remittances, yet he claims that his aim is to bring in more money for government. The sources claim that he has made promises of fantastic income to government but his track record does not bear out this trend.
Further investigation by this medium revealed that Kashamu’s Western Lotto in recent times has been having serious problems paying winnings to its customers.
Sources told this medium that when his Western Lotto came onto the scene, he induced agents with lots of Greek gifts like cars it soon dawned on him that he could not sustain that.
As at the time of writing this story, Western Lotto is enmeshed in serious crisis of confidence: agents are returning its games while winnings are delayed and not even paid at all.
The present situation of things perhaps necessitated the clandestine moves by Kashamu and his Western Lotto to orchestrate the out of court settlement with NLRC in order to save face and perhaps revive his Lotto business