Sizekhaya Holdings will take over as South Africa’s new national lottery operator on 1 June 2026, with incumbent operator Ithuba Holdings continuing on an interim basis.
After announcing a successful conclusion to the fourth national lottery license last week, the Department for Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) confirmed that Sizekhaya’s appointment will take effect in a year’s time.
On advice from the National Lotteries Commission, the DTIC has signed a temporary licence agreement for Ithuba, whose licence expired over the weekend, to continue operating the national lottery and sports pool for the next 12 months.
“The temporary licence will ensure the continuation of the lottery operations in the period that transition is required from the third to the fourth licence operations,” said DTIC Minister Parks Tau.
Minister Tau said he took issue with the judgment of the High Court on 21 May, which found that the temporary licence awarding process was invalid, and has appealed the judgment.
He noted however that in its judgment, the Court accepted that it is in the public interest that the National Lottery should continue to operate to raise revenues to fund worthy good causes “notwithstanding that the Court was not satisfied with the RFP process.”
Additionally, another Court affirmed the Minister’s power to appoint a temporary licensee in its judgement of 30 May, stating that: “It would be a surprise to the Court that the Minister is unable to appoint an operator, on a temporary basis, for a whole year. This is more so because the Minister has more latitude in appointing a temporary operator, as opposed to a fully-licensed operator.”
Minister Tau commented: “It is in the context of both the 21 and 30 May 2025 judgments that I received and accepted the advice from the Commission, that I appoint a temporary licence operator on an urgent basis. I am pleased that the National Lottery operations will not be interrupted during transition from third to fourth licence operations and that worthy causes will continue to receive support.”
Sizekhaya is a consortium led by betting and gaming operator GoldRush and includes Chinese lottery supplier Genlot, which powers China’s Sports and Welfare lotteries.