Nigerian government changing the state of lotteries

[just_Alice]

Didn't lotteries already have legal status in Nigeria? In that case, that is not that much of a change, basically, that's the government officially stating that lotteries are profitable and "we'll take care of it from now on". But that could be a good sign.

Indeed, governments can make huge profits from the lottery business. For instance, in the US in 2015 the overall net income generated from lotteries was as big as $21.4 billion. Hopefully, the new approach from the government will make things more regulated and help Nigeria to generate big income as well.

[Silberman]

Not bad at all as it's a must to have a strict and proper regulations so that for every inch of revenue that will come from gambling, it will be used properly for its real purposes such as how tax should be.

Anyways, is that only applies to the lottery? If so, then like here in our country, maybe lottery there has lots of bettors since it's one of the gambling types that is easy to access, no need for some technical knowledge and the best part of it, tickets are cheap.

Since it seems that gambling activity has seen an important increase at Nigeria then it could be a good idea that they not only look at how to regulate the lotteries but also other gambling games, however if this is just an attempt to get more revenue and nothing else they could find resistance from the public so I hope that besides charging more taxes they also regulate the market so the people do not get scammed and offer some way to treat gambling addiction in the case a few of those gamblers develop this condition.

[ultrloa]

Not bad at all as it's a must to have a strict and proper regulations so that for every inch of revenue that will come from gambling, it will be used properly for its real purposes such as how tax should be.

Anyways, is that only applies to the lottery? If so, then like here in our country, maybe lottery there has lots of bettors since it's one of the gambling types that is easy to access, no need for some technical knowledge and the best part of it, tickets are cheap.

Since it seems that gambling activity has seen an important increase at Nigeria then it could be a good idea that they not only look at how to regulate the lotteries but also other gambling games, however if this is just an attempt to get more revenue and nothing else they could find resistance from the public so I hope that besides charging more taxes they also regulate the market so the people do not get scammed and offer some way to treat gambling addiction in the case a few of those gamblers develop this condition.

Getting additional revenue is best option to take by nigerian government if they used it on projects and other good plans towards making their country better but if they just do it for corruption well this is really bad since they will make those casinos as milking cow. Also if they see a huge increase of casinos popping up on their country maybe they should form a law or create a progra  which can help their citizen to avoid being addicted on the games which is available to their country right now.

[agustina2]

They are not the only country that imposed additional taxes some European countries are also doing this, this is a measure to increase revenues because countries are losing taxes from other industry and Nigerian move although bad for gambling casinos have no choice but to impose it on their most active industry and that includes casinos and gaming companies.

It's not bad for gambling casinos because they are generating more income than their usual during pandemic without paying an increased tax.

That additional tax is just a piece of candy to them compare to their whole revenue. If implemented it shouldn't be a problem paying for an additional tax since they will continue to perform more and their clients will still play with them.

The country will be benefited from it.

[crzy]

They are not the only country that imposed additional taxes some European countries are also doing this, this is a measure to increase revenues because countries are losing taxes from other industry and Nigerian move although bad for gambling casinos have no choice but to impose it on their most active industry and that includes casinos and gaming companies.

Taxes in gambling activities is also high compare to other countries so this is a good move for Nigeria to raise more funds and to help its people. In my country, lottery is government owned, they made a lot of money from this department and this department also help people who are in need by giving financial assistance, so this is not an ordinary lottery agency but with a great purpose.

[TimeTeller]

They are not the only country that imposed additional taxes some European countries are also doing this, this is a measure to increase revenues because countries are losing taxes from other industry and Nigerian move although bad for gambling casinos have no choice but to impose it on their most active industry and that includes casinos and gaming companies.

Taxes in gambling activities is also high compare to other countries so this is a good move for Nigeria to raise more funds and to help its people. In my country, lottery is government owned, they made a lot of money from this department and this department also help people who are in need by giving financial assistance, so this is not an ordinary lottery agency but with a great purpose.

Gambling industry is one of the first industries to recover during this pandemic.
If people can afford to gamble, then charging higher taxes from these casinos is only fair.
I don't think the government will charge tax that will bankrupt the casino because they don't want that to happen.
As long as the government officials are diverting the funds into deserving organizations or individuals, that's more than enough to say they benefited from this gambling business.

[milewilda]

They are not the only country that imposed additional taxes some European countries are also doing this, this is a measure to increase revenues because countries are losing taxes from other industry and Nigerian move although bad for gambling casinos have no choice but to impose it on their most active industry and that includes casinos and gaming companies.

Taxes in gambling activities is also high compare to other countries so this is a good move for Nigeria to raise more funds and to help its people. In my country, lottery is government owned, they made a lot of money from this department and this department also help people who are in need by giving financial assistance, so this is not an ordinary lottery agency but with a great purpose.

Gambling industry is one of the first industries to recover during this pandemic.
If people can afford to gamble, then charging higher taxes from these casinos is only fair.
I don't think the government will charge tax that will bankrupt the casino because they don't want that to happen.
As long as the government officials are diverting the funds into deserving organizations or individuals, that's more than enough to say they benefited from this gambling business.

For physical ones then its yes, its slowly recovering but for online ones then they are the ones who had been booming up on this pandemic situation since majority of people is spending their time
through online and it is just justifiable that they would really be asked out for some increase in terms of tax or even into those physical ones since revenue of these kind of business
is just big which paying up those taxes wont really be that much of a problem and its true that as long those government does know to handle out those taxes
then it would really be that worth on imposing those increase and for the sake of economic development then its just understandable.

[Cling18]

It's a good thing that their government is doing something to monitor and regulate lottery in their  country. At least things will be organized and taxation would be handled appropriately. Sometimes the government's restrictions benefit the country's economy. If it would work well for Nigeria, I hope that more countries would do the same thing.

[gabbie2010]

It's a good thing that their government is doing something to monitor and regulate lottery in their  country. At least things will be organized and taxation would be handled appropriately. Sometimes the government's restrictions benefit the country's economy. If it would work well for Nigeria, I hope that more countries would do the same thing.

I think the government is trying to diversify from oil source of revenue or income to other non oil sector, the future prospect of earning from the export of crude oil is not guaranteed due to improvement in technology e.g manufacture of electric cars like TESLA in view of that the government is looking towards exploring and generating revenue inform of taxes from lottery and gambling related businesses, Nigeria has huge population thus proceeds generated from.lottery can be channel towards  the development of their infrastructures provided that those funds are stolen by their corrupt officials.

[smyslov]

Here in our country, our government is the one running the lottery and it's one of their main revenue-generating projects, they get all the income and they are not taxing it, it's ok for Nigeria to impose additional taxes, especially in the pandemic where any government especially if the government is classified as a third world country the people of Nigerian are the one that will benefit from this, unless the government is corrupt.

[Fundamentals Of]

The vision is already here. It is more or less complete as well. It is good. But I am thinking more on the how on all of this. Make sure revenues are in order? Monitor the lottery system? Spread it all across? Better management? How? How is that done? What are going to be the concrete policies and other steps that would ensure that this vision is going to materialize? And how much money is involved to make this happen? This must need a larger budget for the gambling regulators to be able to effectively implement the new policies.

Lastly, I hope corruption will also be minimized or else this might only feed the corrupt officials.  

[Silberman]

They are not the only country that imposed additional taxes some European countries are also doing this, this is a measure to increase revenues because countries are losing taxes from other industry and Nigerian move although bad for gambling casinos have no choice but to impose it on their most active industry and that includes casinos and gaming companies.

In a way it is understandable that this is happening as the pandemic has caused governments to spend a lot of money they did not had and they are looking for more sources of revenue as many businesses went bankrupt, but they are going to have problems because as we know now that people can gamble online and are not afraid to do so as they were at the beginning stages of the Internet, now any casino owner can decide to just leave the country with high taxes, move to another with low taxes and still target the same gamblers and get more money on his pockets that way by paying less taxes.

[agustina2]

Didn't lotteries already have legal status in Nigeria? In that case, that is not that much of a change

No, it will be a big change. Hard regulations mean much more strict implementations.

I'm guessing tax will be modified to cover the government losses during the pandemic. I'm also expecting strict licensing and requirements for the new lottery business to prevent the operation of those who don't want to be regulated. Not complying will be tagged as illegal.

I like the government's ways of taking steps to take advantage of the growth of lotteries there. I just hope the result will be good.

[chaser15]

Let's monitor what happens in Nigeria and let us hope that the revenue, taxation, rules, regulations won't be that harsh.

The fact that the Nigerian government is prioritizing this, means they are really serious about a good change. Maybe there are lots of lotteries there that despite getting good revenues, are not committed to following the proper taxation, or maybe some are unlicensed and the government is not benefiting from it.

Right, let's see how this will goes. This is a good move but hopefully, it will be balanced and fair to all concerns.

[Saint-loup]

It's a good thing that their government is doing something to monitor and regulate lottery in their  country. At least things will be organized and taxation would be handled appropriately. Sometimes the government's restrictions benefit the country's economy. If it would work well for Nigeria, I hope that more countries would do the same thing.

Yes but AFAIK at least half of the country is of muslim religion, and Islam prohibits gambling games, that's why in muslim countries gambling activities are usually prohibited or very strictly regulated, and lotteries are forbidden, so there will be certainly some controversies and protests about that matter in the country.

[qwertyup23]

Is this unexplored in Nigeria?

Upon searching for a couple of minutes, it seems that it's legal and illegal there. It's not that well-regulated, and some officials want something out of it hence, corruption. With the increasing gambling activity within them, upon reading the article linked in the reference section, they are getting more regulations that are not bad compared to doing nothing.

I hope with all the complex activities with this in their country, there would be no consequences towards the action of people if they had a rough day or something with all the gambling they had.

I do hope that this unexplored territory becomes regulated tightly by the government since the revenue earned through gambling/lottery activities is substantial.

In the Philippines, our own government-controlled gambling activity called PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) brings the government the highest revenue yearly. The potential of Nigeria earning through their lottery system can bring significant changes and improvement to their financials and expenditure.

[Darker45]

In the Philippines, our own government-controlled gambling activity called PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) brings the government the highest revenue yearly. The potential of Nigeria earning through their lottery system can bring significant changes and improvement to their financials and expenditure.

Do you have the figures as well as the sources of this information? Please check your facts. Otherwise, you might be relaying false information. The highest revenue in the Philippines is coming from taxes. Having said this, the largest revenue contribution is coming from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The Bureau Of Customs (BOC) comes next. PAGCOR remits to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr). Definitely, BTr does not bring the highest revenue to the government, although PAGCOR's share of BTr's revenue is indeed significant.

[peter0425]

Is this unexplored in Nigeria?

Upon searching for a couple of minutes, it seems that it's legal and illegal there. It's not that well-regulated, and some officials want something out of it hence, corruption. With the increasing gambling activity within them, upon reading the article linked in the reference section, they are getting more regulations that are not bad compared to doing nothing.

I hope with all the complex activities with this in their country, there would be no consequences towards the action of people if they had a rough day or something with all the gambling they had.

I do hope that this unexplored territory becomes regulated tightly by the government since the revenue earned through gambling/lottery activities is substantial.

it is each government prerogative but i believe that this is a fresh country for this kind of activities  so at least they will be at good place in the next days.

In the Philippines, our own government-controlled gambling activity called PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) brings the government the highest revenue yearly. The potential of Nigeria earning through their lottery system can bring significant changes and improvement to their financials and expenditure.

Exactly that is what i also seeing this in future, Nigeria will make it one of the best gaining in gambling once this become reality.

[michellee]

The lottery games can be additional income to that country but they need to consider that the pandemic is not over yet. If the level of the infection is not too high in their country and people are aware of their health, they can start to test the lottery game and see how much income they can get. It will need more regulations from their government with the current situation and conditions that happen in their country so the regulation can run without a problem.

[Woodie]

"Unexplored" meaning the Nigerian government wants its huge population to gamble more ! I don't like the sound of it and afaik these are the kind of issues that bring conflict knowing that different religious groups have different opinions over gambling. Tbh It's no brainer if gambling is taxable the real winners here are the government and not the people.