Players of lotto need to know who won

Dear Editor,

Guyana is probably the only country in the world where the winners of lotto games are not published. There are times when the jackpot would stand at a whopping $80M and players would rush in a flurry and a frenzy to buy many tickets expecting to win.

The next day, the jackpot would plunge right down to a petty $4M or the amount at which the new game starts, after it was won. But who has won? A phantom or a ghost? The winner’s name and photograph remain unpublished (as has been suggested) for security reasons.

Lotto is a game, and as a rule the names of the winners of games are always announced. The winners are either personally seen or their names and photographs appear in the newspapers. In our computerized age of modern technology, a safe way – one which would protect winners – should be used to ensure that lotto players and the general public could know the winners.

Players need more transparency relative to who wins the jackpot.

Yours faithfully,
George Carrington