MobilottoAfrica Brings Sanity to Promos, Lotteries

MobilottoAfrica, through its technology partner, Humber Technologie, has developed a unique and proprietary SMS and USSD based lottery gaming that promises to transform lives of ordinary Nigerians and enrich the country.

Unlike the telecom service providers operated promos and lotteries, winnings on MobilottoAfrica is secured and guaranteed.

And because, MobilottoAfrica uses Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), there are no problems of congestion that can affect quality of service (QoS) provisioning by services providers.

Promoters of the lottery said that it distributes wealth; creates jobs as well as revenue for the government from the sale of tickets.

Andrew Humber-Osofisan, president & CEO, said that “my goal is to use the mobile platform running on cutting-edge technology as a vehicle to stimulate the Nigerian economy, put money in the hands of the people, create social and financial opportunity, and better the lives of all Nigerians."

A person starts the mobile lottery by sending USSD or SMS to a dedicated short code to register or play the lottery game; in the next step he selects his winning numbers and sends the numbers to lottery centre through USSD or SMS; person gets the acknowledgement message; If the person wins, he’s automatically notified by SMS; and in addition to this, a person can check the winning numbers, his previous play history and his credit balance.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the player will play the lottery by choosing any six numbers from 1-50 or QP (quick pick) for a random numbers selection and this cost N100 per session.

The lottery game result is drawn every evening on live NTA network at 8pm, Monday to Saturday and winners of 4, 5 and 6 correct numbers are contacted to claim their prize winnings.

The prize pool fund is based on a pari-mutuel share, a calculation where the total monies allocated to a prize category are divided by the total number of winners in that category.

Sometimes, players select certain number combinations more often than other number combinations, and this may result in a greater number of winning tickets and a lower prize share.

The beginning jackpot prize is N2 million and it increases as the number of players or wagering grows.  Only 40 per cent -50 per cent of the total wager is allocated to winners.   

A player holding a registered phone number with any one of the networks can securely play lottery games through Mobilotto round the clock.

“Our innovative technology provides lottery players a secure, scalable, and exciting way to play lottery games. Mobilotto technology verifies lottery player's age legality, mobile phone number and network registration, as well as the security and integrity of all transactions” Humber-Osofisan added.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Mobilotto eliminates retail and terminal based sales by providing secure and convenient access to the lottery on devices carried and used by consumers on a daily basis – thus turning the mobile phone into a mobile lottery terminal.

As it is an account based wagering platform, Mobilotto offers a far better solution for problem gaming. Mobilotto system can limit the number of plays, how much a player spends and how often an individual is able to play  the lottery.

No such restrictions or preventative abilities exist for the traditional land based lottery system.

The primary goal of MobilottoAfrica (Mobilotto) is to utilize the generated revenue to enrich the lives of the players and transform the communities.

With the lottery's popularity as the most accepted form of legal gaming in combination with the continually expanding wireless infrastructure in Africa, it is anticipated that the SMS and USSD mobile platform will become the acceptable way to play the lottery and generating additional revenue for the government.

 The federal government can use the revenue from the scheme for such programmes as building of new schools; recreational activities; sports and youth development; technology centers; technical and vocational schools; adult education centers; business development and incubation centers: as well as  agriculture and a sleuth of infrastructural developments.

What the lottery will do for Nigeria is that it will stimulate the economy by putting money in the hand of the people as they win the lottery every week or every day.

 The impact will be dynamic and profound.  Lives will be transformed and communities will be enriched.