Page 6 - LionKing

BUSINESS
SPORTS
BETTING TREND OR BEND?
By Olawale Hamed
Have you ever seen an Arsenal fan kicking himself angrily after watching a game that Arsenal actually won?
Or have you ever seen a Chelsea fan throw away his drink in disgust because his team beat the opponent but could not keep a clean sheet? Absurd though as
it may seem, these irrational behavioural reactions are actually rampant and mostly born out of the betting fever that
is currently spreading like a trend blaze across Nigeria and indeed several other African countries.
Sports betting involves selecting odds and placing a bet based on prediction on the outcome of a game. It gets even more interesting because events do not only include the actual outcome of the game, but also other possible outcomes such as goal scorer, number of goals, when the goal would occur and many others. Whilst football is the most popular sport that people bet on in Africa, sports betting also involves other sports like basketball, tennis, handball and even animal sports such as ram fight!
It is an old activity. The first record of sports betting dates back more than 2,000 years ago as the Greeks’ love of sports led them to introduce the Olympics to the world as well as the earliest records of betting on athletic competitions. It eventually spread to ancient Rome where it was eventually accepted and even legalized.
Gambling is legal in Nigeria and regulated by the National Lottery Regulatory Commission. The lottery was legalized
with the National Lottery Act, 2005 and gambling is defined by Chapter 22 of the Criminal Code Act enacted in 1990. The law splits the games into two categories:
The legal and illegal games. The legal games are lottery, land-based casino, and sports betting, whilst Roulette, dice games, and non-skilled card games are illegal. The law also regulates slot machine activity and only licensed operators can provide slot machine gambling. Money laundering activity is covered by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Although Internet space is not mentioned in the Nigerian law, casinos and other betting companies are obliged to follow the regulations and laws as it is for the land-based casinos.
The Nigerian sports betting and gaming industry has grown astronomically in the last couple of years. This exceptional growth can be attributed to the increasing population of youths on one hand, and increased access to internet- enabled mobile devices on the other. Some pundits attribute the trend to high level of unemployment in the country. However, betting and sports can hardly be separated and sports is considered a choice hobby for many youths across the world.
Obtaining a gaming license in Nigeria requires approval from several operators. The main operators are the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML), and the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). Some operators are also required to secure a Certificate of Capital Importation, and liaise with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)
to get a Tax Identification Number and register for Value Added Tax (VAT). Operators are advised to comply with
6 | The Lion King | April - June 2019