Nigeria to Offer Remote Operator Licences Moving Forward

The government in Nigeria has struck a deal with the UK-based fintech company E-Technologies in a bid to effectively collect taxes from online gambling sites. The move will let the Nigerian government issue licenses to gambling sites to cater to Nigerian customers despite not actually having a base within the country.

By using E-Technologies software, it should allow tax revenues to be automatically collected from the gambling sites and passed into the state coffers. As a result, the move should help the country benefit as a whole from what promises to be one of the hotspots in the African online gambling revolution.

How Nigeria’s gambling tax collection could work

Under the current plans, Nigerian authorities would use a piece of E-Technologies software called Sentinal that allows any licensed operator to collect taxes whenever a customer makes a payment.

This means that anybody in Nigeria who signs up to one of the new online casinos 2023 would make a deposit to fund their wagering, and a percentage of this payment would automatically be deducted and sent to the nation’s tax collectors. In addition to this, the National Payment Gateway software would supply a range of useful information regarding tax reporting and gambling monitoring.

The National Lottery Regulation Commission of Nigeria has been tasked to issue licenses among the prospective operators, and it’s expected that several major international gambling brands will be in the running. As a result, Nigeria is taking a serious step towards becoming one of the new centers for legal online gambling in Africa.

Nigeria’s first wave of legit gambling sites

The initial regulation of remotely operated casino gaming and sports betting in Nigeria should bring some substantial revenues for the nation’s authorities. This can be seen in the fact that operators will have to initially pay $100,000 up front to get a license to operate in the country, and they would then have to pay a fee of $50,000 to legally operate in Nigeria each year after.

Each permit would be issued by the National Lottery Regulation Commission of Nigeria and it would enable the operator to legally offer sports betting and casino gaming in the country for five years.

The Nigerian authorities will also take several further steps to ensure that only safe and fair operators get a license to operate within the country. To begin with, the operator will have to pass a test to show that it can host a responsible gambling environment. This will be followed up by regulation that demands that the operator complies with an risk-based anti-money laundering screening policy.

While there will be a significant financial outlay for operators wishing to enter the Nigerian market, the move will be keenly watched by all within the industry. This is because of the fact that there will be no need to have a localized presence to operate within Nigeria which will dramatically reduce operating costs.

At the moment, it’s too early to see which gambling brands will be the first to enter the Nigerian market, but as Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, it’s expected to be something of a feeding frenzy.

Online gambling becomes big business in Africa

The arrival of Nigeria’s first wave of licensed gambling sites has arrived at the perfect time. Online gambling has started to make a real presence in Africa over the past decade, and the continent’s governments are having to catch up with the arrival of the new technologies. There’s a massive hunger for legal sports betting and casino gaming in Africa as internet and mobile technology takes a hold over the continent.

Nigeria’s decision to use the latest technology to collect gambling taxes represents a major step forward. If successful it’s a move that could be mirrored elsewhere with nations such as Zimbabwe currently rewriting its gambling act so as to effectively collect taxes from within a regulated betting and gaming environment.

Effective gambling tax collection has been a growing problem for governments in Africa with the often gray areas of gambling licensing making it hard to effectively police the situation. But with the Setinal system in place, Nigeria’s government should see a big upturn in gambling revenues that can then be spent on a number of projects ranging from public services to local infrastructure.

Several major international gambling brands have already taken significant steps to enter the potentially lucrative African market. For example, this summer saw the Swedish gambling brand, Betsson, taking a major share in the Nigerian sports betting company, BetBonanza.

Not to be outdone, 888 launched its online gambling platform in Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya. Plus with Nigeria now making big moves to regulate online gambling, it looks as though Africa could be set to be a new global hotspot for sports betting and casino gaming.