_{Photo: Mrs. Narda Garcia, CEO in the Office of the Prime Minister}

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Aug. 26, 2024

This morning, Monday, August 26, Mrs. Narda Garcia, CEO in the Office of the Prime Minister, and Mrs. Janel Espat, the Managing Director of Belize Government Lotteries Ltd. (BGLL), appeared on the Love FM Morning Show and declared on a matter Belizeans have been waiting to hear about for some time, the earnings off sales of the Boledo since the government returned the company, which had been licensed to private entities, to public management in May last year. Mrs. Espat told viewers she had “very good news to share”, that after 8 months of running the lottery the government had realized $72 million in sales, and that conservatively they are estimating around $16.5 million in net profits off projected sales of $108 million by November 30, 2024, which will mark a year since the government started running the game.

Back in May 2023 when the government took control of the Boledo from Caribbean Gaming Company Limited (CGCL) and Brad’s Gaming Group, PM Briceño told the House of Representatives that the private owners of the Boledo had reported extremely low sales during the 10-year period after receiving the contract from government [UDP] in 2010. He said the “sales started off at $5.8 million; then $10 million; $9.4 million; $12.8 million, $12.3 million, $11.5 million; 2016 gaan up to $10.8; in 2017 it gaan down to $5.8 million; gaan up in 2018 to $16.7; 2019 when dehn mi di look fi want renew di contract, dehn increase di sales to $25.8 million.” Briceño said that in August 2021 after the People’s United Party administration came to power and the Lotteries Committee wrote them (the company) a first letter asking for information, “all of a sudden, sales gaan from $18.7 million to $43.3 million … In 2022 – guess what? Sales gaan up: $50.2 million. In 10 years they reported $128 million; now in one year, $50 million!” Briceño said that in two years of the PUP’s administration, the private company reported $125.6 million in sales, of which the people of Belize only received $11 million in taxes and license fees.

CEO Garcia said that between 2010 and 2020 the government realized around $2 million annually from the Boledo’s private managers, and the highest amount of business tax government’s coffers received in a single year was some 300 odd thousand dollars. She explained that it took government all of six months to restart the game after taking it over because they were starting from scratch, and a lot of fine-tuning had to be done. CEO Garcia said she sees the opportunity for the country to earn more revenues from gaming, and hinted that government might be expanding into other games.