The company handed Uganda’s first National Lottery licence has confirmed it has stopped operating, days after regulators revealed the shutdown and only after questions had already begun over what went wrong.
ITHUBA Uganda Limited, a subsidiary of South African firm ITHUBA Holdings, stopped selling tickets on 30 June and ceased trading entirely from 1 July – two years into a licence awarded for ten.
News of the closure first came not from the company but from Uganda’s National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board (NLGRB), which said on 2 July it had been in discussions with ITHUBA over its “financial and operational position” before receiving formal notice that it was leaving the business.
The regulator said the exit did not release ITHUBA from its obligations under the law, its National Lottery licence or its concession agreement. It said outstanding player balances, prize claims and other liabilities remained under its supervision.
Only afterwards did ITHUBA issue its own statement, saying the decision had been taken after “careful consideration” and was not an abandonment of players. It said it had formally notified the regulator and would cooperate with an orderly wind-down, and urged anyone with valid winning tickets or wallet balances to contact it. It gave no explanation for why a ten-year commitment had ended after two.
Rapid rise, sudden fall
ITHUBA Uganda was awarded the licence in 2023 by then-Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, with sales beginning in June 2024. Officials said at the time it would keep most lottery proceeds in the country and fund public programmes in education, health, infrastructure and sport. The company had pledged more than $14.5m in start-up capital and later reported paying out billions of shillings to winners, while opening regional offices in Mbarara, Mbale and Gulu.
A partnership under strain
ITHUBA Uganda was a joint venture: ITHUBA Holdings held 65% of the business, with the remaining 35% – and the underlying licence – held by local firm Verscalli Ltd.
Bob Kabonero, Verscalli’s representative and ITHUBA Uganda’s former board chairman, said the local side had received notice of the exit but was still establishing the details. He said the end of the operating arrangement did not mean the licence itself was dead, noting it still had about eight years to run, and said Verscalli was open to new partners to revive the lottery.
A source close to the venture, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the collapse followed disagreements between the two shareholders over strategy – including market activation, technology, retailer economics and the pace of investment needed to build the lottery in a market already dominated by sports betting. The source said ITHUBA had misjudged how different Uganda’s market was from South Africa’s, and pointed to disputes over how quickly retailer terminals should have been rolled out. Neither company has given an official account of what triggered the closure.
Not the first bumpy exit
The Ugandan closure comes weeks after ITHUBA Holdings’ own 11-year run operating South Africa’s National Lottery ended in May, with the licence passing to a new operator, Sizekhaya Holdings – a handover reportedly complicated by disputes over data and delayed prize payments.
What happens next
Uganda’s gambling sector has expanded quickly in recent years, with regulators reporting sharply higher tax receipts from betting, gaming and lottery activity. The NLGRB says the wider industry remains stable despite ITHUBA’s exit, and that its immediate focus is protecting player funds while a new arrangement for the National Lottery is worked out.
Players with valid tickets or wallet balances have been told to contact ITHUBA directly, while the regulator says it is monitoring the settlement of claims. Further guidance is expected in the coming days.
