By Staff Reporter

Premier Bet on Thursday unveiled five lucky winners in MK400 million aviator game for successfully playing well in the newly introduced game.

The winners were given the money at a ceremony held at Ryalls Hotel in Blantyre.

The five are Lydia Chimpango who has received MK50 million after placing a MK50 stake, Donnex Patrick Chandiloza who placed a K200 stake and walked away with MK100 million, Andrew Simeon Kanyenda and Pyola Harawa who also walked away with MK100 million after placing a MK2000 and a MK100 stake respectively and Rowell Donda who received MK50 million from a MK3000 stake.

Chandiloza, a 28-year old man, who is a phone repair based in Lilongwe, said he will use the money to expand his business and was grateful to Premier Bet for this opportunity.

“I am short of words. This is huge and I feel like I am dreaming but it’s indeed happening, I have won MK100 million. I will expand my business so that it grows and I am very grateful to Premier Bet for this opportunity,” he said.

The company’s Country Commercial Manager Nawar Jarakji said he is happy to continue fulfilling its objective in changing the lives of Malawians through betting.

“Our mission in Malawi is to have more winners to encourage people to play even more and I am always happy when we are fulfilling our objective when we have big winners.”

According to Jarakji, his company is enjoying business in Malawi with customer engagement increasing day by day.

“Since we started our business in 2015 in Malawi, our engagement with customers is increasing day by day and every year, we are opening between 50 and 100 shops and our customer base is also increasing, our credibility in the market is also good because we have the public trust so we are safe to say we have met a very good environment in Malawi,” he added.

The five winners have come at a time when Premier Bet’ credibility was put under scrutiny after it dashed out another MK100 million to a Lilongwe based woman who placed two stakes in the same Aviator game but her face was hidden to the general public during the cheque presentation.

But National Lotteries Board through its Licensing Manager who is also the Public Relations Officer Miriam Kumbuyo said it is not strange to hide faces as it is the choice of the winners due to security reasons.

“These are two issues. The hiding of the face is a concent from the winner as part of his/her right and there is nothing wrong because mostly, this is done as part of security, cultural, religious beliefs and many more so when the winner decides to be hidden, these betting companies have to respect the wish of the person in mention,” she explained.

On credibility, she said: “Winning is by chance, it is a lottery so for one to win, it doesn’t require any skill and as a lottery board, we are always happy to see people winning because that’s what we want. We want the money to be returning to people because in doing so, we see their lives changing for the better and that’s exactly why we are here to make sure that when they win, they receive their prizes without difficulties.”