Afro Millions Lotto Woos Nigerians with €5m Jackpot

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The dreams of lovers of sports in Nigeria to be billionaires will soon become a reality courtesy Afro Millions Lotto.

As you read this, plans are already in top gear to meet up with the August 2017 launch of the lotto, which will change the lottery industry in Africa.

Information reaching us from the company reveals that the Afro Millions Lotto, a brand new lotto with a minimum jackpot close to a N1 billion, will be launched in support of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs by the League Management Company (LMC) and British-based Ofertas365.

All 20 NPFL clubs are to be branded with their own page on www.AfroMillionsLotto.com where people can buy tickets online for the twice-weekly draws, as well as enjoy a range of Instant Win games offering big-money prizes.

The benefit for the clubs is that each will receive a percentage of the revenue raised from their lottery site to increase income to fund player development, supporting stadium and pitch improvements as well as community-based projects.

LMC Chairman, Mr Shehu Dikko described AfroMillionsLotto as one of the most exciting commercial developments in club football in Nigeria in recent times and suggested that it would positively impact football financing extensively.

Mr Dikko said, “The LMC bought into this partnership because of its realistic potential to revolutionise our clubs’ commercial operations, thanks to the money lotto will bring in. Lotto has proven to be extremely successful with English Premier League clubs and we hope to replicate its success here in Nigeria.”

In his own comments, Mr James Leppard, CEO of Ofertas365, said “We are delighted to work with Africa’s largest and most prestigious football league in launching AfroMillionsLotto, which will offer players, whether they are football fans or not, the ability to win truly life-changing jackpots.”

A brief of how the lotto works shows that after selecting the football club of their choice and setting up an account on the AfroMillionsLotto website, anyone over the age of 18 can deposit money using their credit or debit card, e-wallet or cash voucher, which they will soon be able to purchase through various points-of-sale.

They then choose a line of six numbers ranging from 1–49 and an additional bonus number from 1–9 before buying a ticket costing €0.60 (approx. N220).

The winning numbers are based on the twice-weekly German National Lottery draw, which can be viewed live on German television on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.

Jackpots and prizes will be displayed on the AfroMillionsLotto website, together with the prizes for correctly predicting 6,5,4,3 and 2 matching numbers.

The minimum jackpot starts at €2.5 million (close to a N1 billion) and rolls over by €250,000 each time it’s not won until it reaches a maximum of €5 million.