What is a lottery?

A lottery is an activity, promotional device or game that involves three basic elements – prize, chance and consideration (a purchase or fee). This means that the activity or game items of value (prizes) are awarded to members of the public by drawings (chance), but it requires some form of payment or purchase (consideration) to participate.

The most common examples, are the local lotteries in which consumers must purchase an entry ticket for a chance to win. Other activities are the tickets and draws from schools, churches and other charitable organizations in which all three elements prize, chance and consideration are present. Lotteries are illegal except when conducted by States and certain exempt charitable organizations.

National Lottery

“National Lottery” means the National Lottery promoted and conducted by the Lotteries Board in terms of this Act, either as principal or through an agent, and includes all lotteries conducted for, and being part of, the National Lottery

The Act

The Lotteries Act, 2002 (Act 15 of 2002) was passed by the Parliament and signed by the President in terms of the Namibian Constitution and published in terms of Article 56 of that Constitution. The Act was promulgated on the 27^th December 2002, to mainly control and regulate the lotteries activities in Namibia.

Click here to view the Lotteries Act

• The lottery should be a way of raising money for Government programme, community, charity, etc., in which many tickets are sold and a few of the tickets are chosen by chance to win prizes through a system which determines who will get or be given something by selecting names or numbers by chance or an event or situation.
•  In most such operations, the bettor buys a numbered receipt or writes down his or her number choices, a drawing is held, and the winners are identified. The value of the prizes is the amount remaining after expenses and the State's share are deducted from the pool.
•  Winnings are usually tax free. The top prize can grow into tens of millions, usually causing a buying frenzy as it increases, but the odds against winning remain low.