The twenty-second (22nd) edition of the Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA) common mass, a joint race organized by the national lotteries and PMU companies of the eight member countries of the union, opened on Monday, May 05, 2025 in Abidjan.
This 2025 edition of the UEMOA common mass is marked by the establishment of a special pot of 100 million FCFA to be won on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
According to Dramane Coulibaly, the director general of the National Lottery of Côte d’Ivoire (LONACI) and president of the African Lotteries Association (ALA), the common mass reflects the desire of the urban lottery and pari-mutuel companies of the WAEMU zone to contribute to the construction of a strong and united socio-economic space.
“The benefits of the UEMOA common mass are individual and collective. On the occasion of each edition, our companies jointly increase their redistribution capacity to bettors by constituting a mass to be shared representing 60% of the net turnover achieved by each of them on the selected race. Each bettor in the community therefore has the same chances of winning larger winnings,” Coulibaly said in an address made at the opening of the meeting.
Continuing, he said that in order to improve the attractiveness of this offer to bettors, the national lotteries have decided for this edition to establish a special prize pool of 100 million FCFA on the event race.
“The benefits of the UEMOA common mass are also collective and social. They take the form of a community work offered to the organizing country,” said the Director General of LONACI, stressing that this year, the lotteries will offer a primary school of six classes in the village of Yadio in the department of Agboville at a cost of 75 million CFA francs.
In addition, Coulibaly assured that the UEMOA lottery companies are determined to keep the common mass alive in view of the many achievements of this tool for the benefit of the populations of the union.
“I would like to invite the various WAEMU member states to pay particular attention to the project of lottery and urban pari-mutuel companies aimed at obtaining the institutionalization of the WAEMU common mass,” Coulibaly urged.
For his part, Vassogbo Bamba, the deputy chief of staff of the Ivorian Minister of Finance and Budget, urged the UEMOA national lotteries “to preserve the common mass” considering that this initiative “has a direct impact on the citizens of the zone”.
“The UEMOA Commission is ready to play its part and is available for any initiative aimed at strengthening the UEMOA common mass,” promised Gustave Diasso, the resident representative of the UEMOA Commission in Côte d’Ivoire.
The UEMOA common mass is an activity backed by the horse racing betting offer which consists for the national lottery and urban pari-mutuel betting companies (PMU) of the UEMOA member states, to put together once a year, the masses to be shared from a race to the support event of the Quinté and to pay to the bettors of this sub-regional space, a larger joint report.
This 22nd edition of the UEMOA common mass, which is being held in the Ivorian economic capital, will end on May 9.
The next edition is scheduled for 2026 in Benin.
