Legal Implications of Online Gambling in Nigeria: The gaming market is a constantly evolving venture known for its heterogeneous regulation all over the world. In Nigeria, the gaming market has witnessed changes when compared to its previous status, as it is now found to be more addictive in light of the ecstatic feelings derived from the unimaginable gains presumed to outweigh the losses incurred from it. This is indeed evidenced by a recent study of the Nigerian population, where it was found that 36% of adult respondents gambled and 53% of these people were daily gamblers.
Laws related to gaming are important not only for those involved with gaming operations, like casinos, bingo, or poker tournaments, but also for every individual curious on how to commence the process of registering and operating a gaming entity or the simple person unsure of the legality or otherwise of starting a card group or if playing the street game of “2 sure odds” can be equated to possible jail time under our laws.
The national regulation defined gambling to include “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 shall be operated according to a licence.”Online gambling on the other hand is not yet clearly defined in Nigerian legislation, but in practice it involves any electronic form of gambling, whether through the internet, telephone, television or radio communication; or any other kind of technology used in facilitating communication.The most common form of remote gambling offered in Nigeria is sports betting, which simply means staking something, especially money or pledge as a wager. The most popular form of sports betting is football betting, although people bet on other sports like basketball, lawn tennis, cricket and many other world sports and leagues around the world. This is mostly conducted through mobile gaming (via telecommunications networks) and the internet using smartphones. Some of the sports betting operators in Nigeria include; Bet9ja, Nairabet, 1960bet, 22bet, Betway, Betking, Merrybet etc.
Ezinne Nnadi
Member, Dispute Resolution Team
ezinne.nnadi@omaplex.com.ng