SCHOOL, church and sport club raffles will be banned, along with unregistered lotteries, ahead of the launch of a national lottery. National Lottery Board chairman Joe Foster told The Citizen newspaper on Friday such contests, as well as promotional competitions organised by private companies, will be subject to stringent restrictions on their purposes and ticket and prize values. All lotteries were required to register with the board. “Any lottery or similar game not authorised by the board is illegal and any person contravening the Act will be prosecuted,” he said. South Africa’s first national lottery concesssion was awarded to Uthingo Management last week.