The Nigerian gambling industry has become one of the biggest markets in Africa, but our laws have failed to keep up with this rapid growth.
There are conflicting figures about the exact size of the gambling industry, but in terms of revenue, Nigeria is generally considered second in sub-Saharan Africa, behind South Africa.
When that metric is adjusted to the volume of bets placed, Nigeria is a clear leader in the region. That doesn’t come as a surprise, given that our population is well over 200 million, more than a third of the South African population.
About a third of the Nigerian adult population is said to be actively involved in gambling, particularly sports betting, with the estimated annual expenditure staggeringly climbing over N700 billion.
Unfortunately, a good fraction of this money ends up outside the shores of the country.
Due to outdated gambling laws and loose enforcement of existing regulations, unlicensed gambling operators are still very much present in the country, offering their services to Nigerian players.
These companies not only take money out of Nigeria, they also deprive the country of much-needed revenue that would have been earned through licensing fees and betting taxes.
And because their operations are largely unchecked, there is the risk of gambling malpractices like underage betting and non-payment of winnings.
There are operators that have proper licences and comply with the law, a prime example being Betking, as explained in this Betking Nigeria review, but many other bookies do not have the necessary papers to work in this country.
It is for this reason that the gambling laws in the country must be seriously revamped.
Nigeria needs to shore up its online gambling space and ensure that every operator in the country is accounted for.
The government needs to speed up the modernisation of our gambling laws, while the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) needs to be more aggressive in identifying and kicking out local and foreign operators that do not conform with the laws of the land.
By continually allowing unlicensed bookmakers to roam about our online space, we are cheating ourselves, and depriving the economy of much-needed revenue.
To be fair, the NLRC does appear to realise the importance of gambling revenue and the impact it can have on the country’s economy.
The determination to redirect some of this gambling money to the Nigerian market was a major inspiration behind the creation of the Nigerian National Game (NNG).
During the launch of the NNG in July 2022, the Honourable Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume decried the loss of revenue to foreign operators, stating that “most concerning was the proliferation of unregulated foreign games in Nigeria and export of revenues due to heavy patronage by Nigerians”.
Director General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, NLRC, Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila, also spoke of how the launched National Game would boost revenue generation of the country.
Credit to the NLRC for taking proactive measures to keep the gambling money within the boundaries of this country, but that only solves part of the problem.
What the country really needs are new gambling laws to completely clean up the industry.
Send Us News, Gist, more... to citypeopleng@gmail.com | Twitter: @CitypeopleMagz
