Following multiple allegations of non-payment of winnings by lottery operators, the Nigerian National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) relying on Section 7 of National Lottery Act 2005, has prohibited the promotion and sale of tickets of all unapproved foreign lottery games in Nigeria with effect from January 15 2020.
In a bid to justify this decision, the NLRC noted that as a consequence of the games being foreign, the draws for these games are not conducted in Nigeria. In the words of the commission the fundamental criteria for the business of lottery are the transparency and credibility of the draw process. Where they are absent, the games are compromised and provide opportunities for fraud. This breach of trust is detrimental to the playing public and the reputation of the lottery business.
In addition to the above, the NLRC has mandated lottery operators to conduct all draws in-house and allow members of the public to have access to the draw venues to ensure integrity of the process.
The directive taken by the NLRC has elicited several reactions from the operators who believe that the directive is ill advised and would lead to loss of revenue to both operators and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
