Lottery changes lives with more than Sh1bn given out to Kenyans

Kids know it as the brand that brought elephants dancing on trampolines on TV while many adults know it as the product that left them looking forward to Wednesdays and Saturdays in the hope of winning cash. Lotto, a ticket-based lottery, will in a few days mark the second year since it was launched in Kenya.

From modest beginnings, where it gave out Sh1.6 million to 2,180 winners in its first draw on November 7, 2015, the firm has weathered the storm to surpass the Sh1 billion mark in the amount of money it has awarded Kenyans in weekly draws and jackpots.

By September 1, those who had tried their luck with Lotto had won a total of Sh1,034,573,875.

“The number of those who have won is about to hit four million winners as we currently produce over 120,000 winners per week,” Mr Dennis Muigai, Lotto’s communication director, told Sunday Nation.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Lotto ventured into Kenya at a time when the lottery industry was witnessing a renaissance of sorts, and it is among the few in Kenya that operate through the purchase of tickets and televised live draws.

A Lotto player buys a ticket for Sh50 then selects seven digits — six for the main draw and one for the bonus — after which they wait for the next day of the draw. The firm conducts draws twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

If at least three digits in a person’s ticket match those from the main draw, they win some money.

Those who have won so far come from different persuasions, from a nursery school teacher in Mombasa County who won Sh10 million in October 2016 to a struggling graduate who also scooped Sh10 million in June 2016.

LOCAL PLAYERS

“We recognised from the start that, for the model to be sustainable, we had to make sure our customers did not spend more than they could afford,” said Mr Muigai.

“We wanted a large number of people spending a small amount to win life-changing jackpots. And that is what we have achieved. The average Lotto player spends just Sh73 in total per month, an amount affordable to all,” he added.

Other local players in the ticket-based draw system include Pambazuka National Lottery (PNL), which was launched in July 2016 and which conducts its draws on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Both Lotto and PNL are expected to give prominence to charity activities and have in the past been involved in activities that uplift the needy.

CHARITY ACTIVITIES

PNL says its give-back scheme is towards advancing “sustainable development”.... “This resonates with the Kenyan ‘harambee’ spirit,” says PNL on its website.

Lotto, on the other hand, has the Lotto Foundation to co-ordinate its giving to charity.

Mr Muigai said the foundation has so far “raised over Sh300 million for numerous initiatives in the health, education and sports sectors and changed lives in all 47 counties”.

“We know that our paying public is motivated by the thought that win or lose their participation in Lotto is assisting fellow Kenyans,” he noted.

RAGS TO RICHES

Rags-to-riches is the common theme in the accounts of those who have won money through Lotto previously.

Siaya County resident Cleophas Were who won Sh3.2 million in the draw of December 8, 2015 moved from a thatched hut to a modern house in a matter of months.

Mr Were, who won the money with the first Lotto ticket he ever bought, spent another portion of the money stocking his repair shop for sound electronics and opening up a food kiosk for his wife.

In Lotto’s draw of May 27, 2017, lady luck smiled on Nyandarua County resident David Kihara as he won Sh1 million.

The 57-year-old businessman spent the money settling his outstanding debts and to expand his automotive spares business.

FINANCIAL GUIDANCE

Miles away in Mombasa, nursery school teacher Rachael Munyika won Sh10 million in the draw of October 20, 2016. She later spent Sh58,000 of renovating her father’s house and gave Sh100,000 to each of her five siblings to start a business.

Then she spent some of the remaining sum to buy two plots for Sh3.1 million where she built a total of 24 rooms, most of which are for rental.

Winners like Ms Munyika who win large sums of money, Mr Muigai said, usually get financial guidance from Lotto through its financial partners.

“Soon after they are notified of their win, our winners are normally taken under our care for a period and it is during this time that we take them to our financial partners for initial advisory services,” he said.

FINANCIAL PARTNERS

“This is just the beginning of the relationship between winners and our financial partners, which extends for months as our winners solidify their investment choices.

Lotto also takes time to revisit winners to review their progress as a way of encouraging winners to invest wisely,” he added.

A milk vendor, a beef cattle dealer, a carpenter and a farmer are among the people who have won money from Lotto in September.

In August, Athletics Kenya Vice President David Siwa Okeyo was among the winners, bagging Sh600,000.