Africa Market Focus: Nigeria

In the final part of this four-part focus on Africa's emerging gambling hubs, EGR Compliance in partnership with international law firm Dentons solicitors examines regulations affecting gambling operators in the Nigerian market

EGR Compliance,[1]NLRC[2]issues the following licences and permits

lottery licence;
mobile lottery/gaming[3] licence;
promotional competition[4] licence;
sports betting permit.

LSLB[5]the following licences are issued on the state level:

public online lottery;
promotional competitions and other lotteries^[6];
online sports betting;
hotel casino;
standalone casinos
scratchcard and interactive game^[1];
slot machines;
pool betting;
other games^[2].

National level[1]

mobile lottery/gaming licence; and
sports betting permit.

State level

public online lottery;
online sports betting;
scratchcard and interactive game^[1].

[1]Gambling taxNational licences

Lottery
- 20% of net proceeds of the lottery (payable for the first five years after determination of the results of the lottery);
- 25% of net proceeds of the lottery (payable for the second five years after determination of the results of the lottery);
- 5% of net proceeds of the lottery for renewal period (if any);
Mobile lottery/gaming
- 5% of monthly gross proceeds (payable each month);
Sports betting
- 3% gross on monthly sales turnover (payable each month);
Promotional competitions
- N/A.

State (Lagos) licences

Public online lottery
- N/A
Promotional competitions and other lotteries
- N/A
Online sports betting
- 5% of sales revenue for month (payable monthly);
Hotel casino, standalone casino
€500 per casino machine;
€30 per slot machine, gaming table;

Scratchcard and interactive game
- N/A
Slot machines
- €70 per slot machine for one year (payable annually);
Pool betting
- €205 per month for fixed odds games (payable each month);
- €500 per month for fixed odds/treble chance (payable each month).

https:/www.nlrc-gov.ng/https://www.lslb.lg.gov.ng/TermNational licences

Lottery
- 10 years;
Mobile lottery/gaming
- Maximum – one year
Sports betting permit
- Five years:

Promotional competitions
- Maximum – one year.

State (Lagos) licences

Public online lottery
- Five years;
Promotional competitions and other lotteries
- One year;
Online sports betting
- One year;
Hotel casino and standalone casino
- One year;
Scratchcard and interactive game
- One year;
Slot machines
- One year;
Pool betting,
- One year.

Licence feeNational licencesLottery

Application fee (one-off payment): €4,500
Licence fee (one-off payment): €200,000

Mobile lottery/gaming

Application fee (one-off payment): €4,500
Permit fee (payable annually): €11,000

Sports betting permit

Application fee (one-off payment): €4,500
Licence fee (one-off payment): €100,000

Promotional competitions

to be determined by the NLRC.

State (Lagos) licencesPublic online lottery

Application fee (one-off payment): €1,000

Promotional competitions and other lotteries

Application fee (one-off payment): €100
Lottery levy: €50 (Frequency of payments is determined by the LSLB)
Licence fee: €1,000 (Frequency of payments is determined by the LSLB)

Online sports betting

Application fee (one-off payment): €1,000
Licence fee (payable annually): €115,000
Renewal fee (payable annually): €22,000

Hotel casino, standalone casino

Application fee (one-off payment): €1,000

Scratchcard and interactive game
- Application fee (one-off payment): €100
Slot machines
- Application fee (one-off payment): €500
- Licence fee (payable annually): €4,500
- Renewal fee (payable annually): €2,000
Pool betting
- Application fee (one-off payment): €300
- Licence fee (payable annually): €2,000
- Renewal fee (payable annually): €1,000

Minimum charter capitalNational licencesLottery

€45,000

Sports betting permit

€70,000

Mobile lottery/gaming

Promotional competitions

State (Lagos) licencesPublic online lottery

€45,000

Promotional competitions and other lotteries

Online sports betting

€45,000

Hotel casino, standalone casino

€45,000

Scratchcard and interactive game

Slot machines

€45,000

Pool bettingBank guaranteeNational licencesSports betting permit (this requirement exists only for sports betting vertical on a national level)Ilya Machavariani is a gambling and gaming lawyer for Europe, Russia and the CIS,heading the Russian and CIS gambling practice group at Dentons. He has extensive experience advising on gambling issues and advises clients on operating in the Russian Federation and the CIS on the full range of regulations relating to the activities of gambling operators, as well as drafting the necessary contracts and internal documents.He also handles licensing processes for gambling operators that are entering new markets throughout the world.Ivan Kurochkin being an associate at CIS gambling practice group at Dentons has broad experience on gambling issues, especially in regulatory matters. His work involves advising clients doing business in the Russian Federation on various activities of gambling operators (including bookmakers), focusing on issues related to compliance with gaming licence requirements, applicable AML requirements, and issues relating to advertising of gambling operators.

Footnotes

Lottery or Lotteries includes any game, scheme, arrangement, system, plan, promotional competition or device for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance, or as a result of the exercise of skill and chance or based on the outcome of sporting events or any other device which the president may by notice in the Gazette declare to be lottery and which shall be operated according to a licence: Lottery includes any game, scheme, arrangement, system, plan or device for distributing prizes by lot or chance and any game, scheme, arrangement, system, plan or device, which the Commissioner may by notice in the Gazette declare to be a lottery.”https://nlrc-gov.ng/guidelines/SMS/ USSD, Interactive Scheme, Scratch Cards and Web Based, and as may be defined from time-to-timeAny Company/Corporate entity whose core business operations is not a lottery; but organises a promotional scheme that has an element of chance or lot in the distribution of prize(s) must apply for approval and obtain a promotional lottery permit prior to the launch of such a promotion.”https://lslb.lg.gov.ng/#Disclaimer: please note that this market focus covers Nigeria – this country does not have any centralised database of laws, acts and regulations (contrary to other African countries that we have covered earlier). Owing to this fact, we were in constant contact with the regulators and our connections on the ground in order to bring you the most accurate and precise information. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that there are certain acts or laws or regulations that are not available online and hence we cannot use them as a basis for our conclusions. Owing to this fact and for the benefit of the global igaming community please feel free to reach out to EGR or us if you find some inaccuracies or are able to share some insights about the Nigerian market.

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Africa Market Focus: Nigeria

Footnotes

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