1. GAMING NEWS
Lotto For Zulus
24 August 1997
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Well, here in deepest darkest Africa, you just never know what you will find. I thought I would be discovering lost tribes and
never heard of hidden valleys full of lost explorers. But, what to my amazement did I find? A 6 from 39 Lotto game run by Zulus!
You bet your Ladysmith Black Mombazo* I did!
This Lotto for Zulus is run by the Kawzulu Natal (the region of South Africa when the Zulu come from, right hand side down the
bottom of the pointy bit) charity, the "Operation Jumpstart" Association. This non profit organization uses the cash from the Lotto
to fund economic development and job creation across the province (state) which is one of the most densely populated in South
Africa, with an estimated population of almost 8 million people.
The operational side of the Zulu Lotto is provided by the local TAB (OTB) who sells the game on-line in their own 140 outlets,
and some 150 general stores. I would have said "Mom and Pop" stores but as Zulus are allowed to take more than one wife it
would have been Moms and Pop stores and may have upset the Christian Coalition (whom we know read RGT regularly just to
see how evil cyberspace really is).
The game started back in '92 as a old fashioned European type draw lottery where there were 6 barrels each with 18 numbers in
each and you had to pick the 6 numbers drawn in sequence.
The game was later restructured to be a Lotto as we know it with software developed by the KwaZulu Natal TAB (OTB). They
started with a 6 from 30 and as it proved to be popular, later went to 6 from 36 and currently the game uses a 6 from 39 format.
There are straight pick six, and quick pick options available and full wheels of 7 through to 12 numbers. Each game costs one
Rand (around .22 cents) The game is drawn twice weekly and has a total turnover of some 4 million Rand (About 4.60 to the
US$). Prizes are paid out on 6 correct, 5 correct and 4 correct.
The biggest prize paid out to date was 5 million Rand (Just over the million greenbacks), there are regular jackpots at the 1.5
million Rand (just over $300,000 US). Now, when a worker is earning around 1200 Rand (say 250 US$) per month that's the
equivalent of 100 years income. The 5 million Rand must look like a Florida 100 million jackpot draw to your average Zulu.
At that turnover level, with some 4 million games per week, it looks like about 15% of the provinces population must be playing
on a regular basis. Given the limited number of outlets and the general economic picture that is not a bad result.
Of the total money staked, 50% goes back into prizes, 10%, goes to operating costs and sales commissions and 40% of stakes
goes to the projects funded by Jumpstart. These are in the nature of school classrooms, community halls, water reticulation
schemes, toilets…whatever a local community puts forward as their local needs. These projects are mainly in the poorer black
communities which in the past suffered from a lack of basic infrastructure in their small towns and villages.
2. Miss Joanne Grey of Operation Jumpstart says that most projects are initiated by local communities and must contain a major
labor intensive aspect to help with the serious unemployment problem facing many of the black communities. The staff of the
charity is small and has 9 paid members of staff many of whom are directly involved on the project side, thanks to the tie up with
the TAB who look after the gaming side.
To date just over 100 million Rand (around 22 million US) has been generated to finance Jumpstart projects.
This provincial lotto is run under what might be called a "generous" interpretation of the charitable fundraising laws. They will be
required to close down the operation when the new National Lottery starts up in 1998 or 1999…at least that's the theory. They
are fierce-looking buggers, these Zulus, and have a history of kicking the daylights out of people who want them to do things
they don't want to do. (Get "Shaka Zulu" out on Video if you don't believe me). So only time will tell what the future holds for the
operation and the good causes it funds.
Under the new National Lottery and Charity Gaming laws, individual charities like Operation Jumpstart will be restricted to one
million Rand per annum in fund raising from lotteries, run on a local basis.
* Ladysmith Back Mobaza was the Zulu group from the black township of Ladysmith, KwaZulu Natal who
backed Paul Simon on some of his "Graceland" album tracks and later had a some success on their own with
a number of albums. They have moved on from their early protest and political songs of the Apartheid era.
Their latest album is "Heavenly" and features their version of Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heavens Door" as well
as Billy Joel's "River of Dreams."
