G.O.B. Makes $72 Million Dollars from Boledo Over 8 Months  

The Ministry of Economic Development is reporting seventy-two million dollars in gross revenue from the sale of Boledo and lotteries over the course of eight months. From that they are reporting some thirteen million dollars in profit. The ministry is further projecting one hundred and eight million dollars in gross revenue within a period of twelve months. Narda Garcia, the C.E.O. in the Ministry of Economic Development broke down the numbers for us.

 

Narda Garcia, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Economic Development

“Gross sales, seventy- two million.  Seventy-two million for the eight months? And we are reporting, net profit of thirteen point five more or less million.”

 

Reporter

“So how much paid out in winnings?  How much administrative costs?”

 

Narda Garcia

“Our administrative cost, I will tell you, is less than one percent. It’s about six hundred thousand dollars. That’s paying software, paying the cloud for the servers, etc. And we have six staff members. That’s it. Winnings is sixty-nine, seventy percent.  It fluctuates between sixty-nine and seventy percent. And then we have to pay the agents and the resellers. Or we pay the resellers who pay the agents.”

 

Reporter

“So, how much of a percentage is that part?”

 

Narda Garcia

“That’s fifteen percent. So that the agents have basically stay with five percent and they pay the reseller, or the small agents’ ten percent.”

 

Paul Lopez

“To me it’s shocking that over eight months Belizeans are spending some seventy-two million dollars in lottery. What, what, what does this say?”

 

Narda Garcia

“The way you look at lotteries from an economic standpoint, right? Or gaming really is a reallocation of resources to a sector of the population. Right? This is what happens. You will never be able to stop gambling or gambling, playing lotteries. It will always be from all spheres of all sectors of society. But basically, the low-income earners are the biggest players. And why? For all the social reasons, that’s the situation. How does the seventy-two million compare to eight months on the Brad’s for a comparable period? I was looking at the numbers last night and I’m looking from 2019 when he reported gross sales of nineteen million.  Annual gross annual gross sales of nineteen million. So this is almost four times that. Yes and 2022 when he reported forty-five million. But at that time remember that the government had changed. I was already chairing a new board, a new lotteries committee, and we were trying to do our work as best as possible to ensure more oversight.”