Nigerian Government plans to begin taxing gambling.

[Hatchy]

Now, it specifically highlighted on-line gambling. Something I don’t seem to understand here though is that, how would this apply? Is it on the gamblers themselves as per wins or the gambling site?
Because, you having to tax gambling wins, what do you do about there losses?

That's what I've been trying to understand. Who will they impose the tax on. Is it on the gambler or on the gambling site. Because I was wondering how much tax they would impose on every winning, like say like 100$ avoid or below will have different tax rate. I don't actually buy this idea as it would reduce the rate at which people use gambling services in the country. The current Nigerian economy has made most of its citizens fund any means to make a living. Gambling is one good money earned in Nigeria and a lot of young people have moved into gambling as a source of income. Imposing tax on thing that the people are trying to manage to survive, would not help cyb any problems but instead give more reason for the economical hardship.

[Odohu]

Tinubu is really looking to feed from anywhere he sees tjat the youths are actively engaged in making money. He is done with cryptocurrency with work done equal to zero, now he is about to face gambling and I'm sure he will not achieve anything too. Instead of improving the economy and ease of doing business in Nigeria, his policies are simply killing businesses and all he does is tax the hell out of the people. I know so many people that run gambling business, rent and cost of electricity is frustrating them, many have already closed.

The moment he implements this gambling tax, so many physical shops will close because people will simply use online gambling sites that accept cryptocurrency. 

[Davidvictorson]

Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

The only people that would they ask affected are those who who bet on sports using the local bet website. And it is not clear if this taxation would be on gambling winning because from what I read some time this week if You're gambling winning is up to about five million naira you would have to pay tax on it. As for asking if it would encourage more gamblers to use crypto betting platforms I don't think we would see a big shift the reason is that in Nigeria cryptocurrency save more as a store of value rather than as a means of transaction.

[Russlenat]

The moment he implements this gambling tax, so many physical shops will close because people will simply use online gambling sites that accept cryptocurrency. 

I have no idea about how physical shops work in that country. But if online gambling is easier for them to access and offers better winning chances and experiences, then most likely, they will just shift to online gambling. However, physical casinos can easily be taxed since they operate within the country. If people turn to online casinos, how can the government tax these online casinos? For example, people there might access popular online casinos like Metawin and Stake.

[o48o]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling? there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably. I also find it strange that the World Bank is supporting this with a financial support package of value close to $2.25million.
Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-offers-support-as-fg-plans-to-introduce-telecoms-gambling-taxes/

Good for the government? Obviously it's good for the government to gain from something like that. Especially when their citizens play casinos online, because all the money that their citizens lose on that doesn't circulate inside the country or stimulate their own economy. And with taxes from winnings they eventually get some of that money back. It's good for the country in the long run, like all taxation, if Nigeria indeed spends their tax money in a way that's helping the country.

But i totally understand why some people see this as government stealing from them, especially when it's a new thing or if they don't agree how taxes should be spend by government.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling?

This is no news to me, the government has increased the tax in definitely every sector of the economy without first increasing the standards of living of the citizens, vehicles now have a lot of new and heavy taxation, there's police clearance now, proof of ownership now expires every year, banking has additional fees per transaction and all of those, so gambling tax is nothing new to me. If those taxes can be added in basic living requirements, then recreational activities wouldn't be left out

Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

I like this line, that's what we are all here for, promoting the use of crypto, especially bitcoin over fiat and getting our freedom from the government, if this would be the only repercussion of this move, then it's not a bad Idea, but sadly, there would be more. Land based casinos and gamblers may be more on the receiving end.

[Gozie51]

But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling?

I don't think there is relationship between difficult times, poverty and gambling because gambling is by choice and not force. If a gambler doesn't want to be taxed then he should equally stay away from gambling. I believe that the tax will be as income tax then when you don't win you probably won't be taxed and if you win then you can let go of certain amount as tax. So if the economy is hard and government is making taxing on food then it is a wrong move but if it is on gambling and profit made from tax, the gambler has a choice not to gamble.

there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably.

How will they go into depression? No I don't think so. Whether you are gambling for fun or not, the taxing shouldn't be on your bet money but on your winning money as like income tax and it won't take someone who won from gambling anything thing much to remit some part as tax for government to provide good governance and social amenities for the people.

[Jating]

Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-offers-support-as-fg-plans-to-introduce-telecoms-gambling-taxes/

Not sure how you know that might not affect crypto gambling in Nigeria? Yeah it didn't specifically say, but what was reported that everything on-line gambling and obviously there are lot of crypto based gambling right now that could be available to Nigerians and so they will surely be affected by it if the government wanted a blanket tax on everything on-line.

So I guess now Nigerians gamblers will have the take the brunt of this new law. Of course, we wouldn't like tax specially for gamblers, but not sure if this can be implemented 100% as obviously it might take infrastructure first to be able to crack down on gamblers not paying their taxes.

[Samlucky O]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling?

The government doesn't care if the masses are suffering or not,  all what they decide they do without considering the effect it will cause on people. For me actually Its not good to impose tax on an economy like Nigeria for now. Economic inflation and bad government is making things difficult for the citizens, so imposing tax on gambling is another way of making things more difficult and it will Leed to depression and reduce the number of Gamblers. Although from my research there are some countries that has a higher percentage in tax which is paid by the casino agent and also from the Gamblers. I also find out that some countries if you chose gambling as your mean of business or profession, then you will pay tax while those that gamble for fun or don't play regularly will not be taxed. If only they can apply that method then it will be fair enough than taxing everybody.

[Docnaster]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling? there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably. I also find it strange that the World Bank is supporting this with a financial support package of value close to $2.25million.
Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-offers-support-as-fg-plans-to-introduce-telecoms-gambling-taxes/

Good for the government? Obviously it's good for the government to gain from something like that. Especially when their citizens play casinos online, because all the money that their citizens lose on that doesn't circulate inside the country or stimulate their own economy. And with taxes from winnings they eventually get some of that money back. It's good for the country in the long run, like all taxation, if Nigeria indeed spends their tax money in a way that's helping the country.

But i totally understand why some people see this as government stealing from them, especially when it's a new thing or if they don't agree how taxes should be spend by government.

Most of the gambling companies we know today pay taxes in different countries they operate but because of the Nigeria's backwardness in technological advancement, they government of the country are yet to implement taxation on gambling companies. It's not a bad idea for the for government of Nigeria to implement tax on gambling companies but what makes it a news of concern to citizens of the West African country is because of how poor the government is in managing internally generated funds. Taxation is one of the sources of revenue of every government in the world but the the discouraging thing about the Nigeria government is that most of the personnels that are saddled with the responsibility of managing these generated public funds ends up looting the money for their personal use.

[avp2306]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling?

The government doesn't care if the masses are suffering or not,  all what they decide they do without considering the effect it will cause on people. For me actually Its not good to impose tax on an economy like Nigeria for now. Economic inflation and bad government is making things difficult for the citizens, so imposing tax on gambling is another way of making things more difficult and it will Leed to depression and reduce the number of Gamblers. Although from my research there are some countries that has a higher percentage in tax which is paid by the casino agent and also from the Gamblers. I also find out that some countries if you chose gambling as your mean of business or profession, then you will pay tax while those that gamble for fun or don't play regularly will not be taxed. If only they can apply that method then it will be fair enough than taxing everybody.

If they impose the tax on gambling maybe their government want to take advantage on the fame of this industry then try to get something from this. But we know how heavy the implication it could possibly bring to their citizen especially if they didn't done any gambling education programs to educate their citizens towards the risk of gambling and possibly make them aware of gambling addiction effects to their selves.

I think there's some part that corruption play on why they decide to do that. So lets do hope that people are aware on each decision done by their government then see if what they do is contributing somethings especially for the growth of their country. But if nothing happen then I guess only those corrupt officials are benefiting for what taxation they do and let those people burn in fire on the implication brought by what they allowed to operate in their country.

[coin-investor]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling?

If the government of Nigeria can show the people where the gambling taxes are going, and the people can see that it's for the welfare of the majority of the people I don't see why the Nigerian people will decline or not agree, same thing happens here in our country people don't want additional taxes but when they saw that allocations totally go for the health sector, the people become supportive of the move

there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably.

The only time that gamblers are not gambling comfortably is when they are losing. taxation in gambling only hurts gamblers when they win huge amounts of money as a big portion will go to the government.

I also find it strange that the World Bank is supporting this with a financial support package of value close to $2.25million.

It's not strange the World Bank always recommends tax measures because they want to see economic stability in a country that owes them a lot.

Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

You cannot break the old habits of gamblers, some may opt for that, but the majority will adjust.

[Slow death]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling? there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably. I also find it strange that the World Bank is supporting this with a financial support package of value close to $2.25million.
Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-offers-support-as-fg-plans-to-introduce-telecoms-gambling-taxes/

Well, I don't know how the laws in Nigeria work, but in most countries for tax increases like VAT to be approved and taxes to be placed on many things, it is necessary for parliament to approve laws, I think that in Nigeria's case the government still It will take a lot of time to carry out a study on how to create laws on gambling and taxes, because it is not enough to say that they intend to charge taxes on gambling, it is necessary that they define the criteria on which conditions gambling sites could meet in order to operate in Nigeria so the government can collect taxes. For example, if a sports betting site currently operates in Nigeria, but the government of Nigeria does not have laws that establish that this site needs to have a license issued by the government of Nigeria, this site needs to pay using local banks and other local payment methods that are licensees

so the government of Nigeria could not be in a position to charge taxes, so they first need to regulate gambling sites with laws and then make laws about taxes on gambling: who will pay the taxes, what will be the amount of taxes, how taxes will be charged. I think this could take this entire year without being approved and implemented. Now, if it is implemented, another big problem will arise:

and that when the government makes laws on gambling and taxes, people who use international casinos that do not have a license issued by the government of Nigeria will then start committing a crime, because they will be using illegal casinos in Nigeria and will not be paying taxes. many people don't understand this

[shivansps]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling? there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably. I also find it strange that the World Bank is supporting this with a financial support package of value close to $2.25million.
Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-offers-support-as-fg-plans-to-introduce-telecoms-gambling-taxes/

Yes, I agree with you. Most likely, the methods the government uses may not be justified. Most likely, the number of gamblers will not increase; they will simply move online en masse. There may be fewer people in the casinos and slot machines. But in general I don't think people will stop gambling because the tax on winnings will be increased, I think people will look for other ways to gamble to avoid paying taxes.

[Marvelockg]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling? there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably. I also find it strange that the World Bank is supporting this with a financial support package of value close to $2.25million.
Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-offers-support-as-fg-plans-to-introduce-telecoms-gambling-taxes/

well, considering the number of active gamblers we have in Nigeria, it's only normal for the Nigerian government to look into creating revenue from that sector.  Taxing gamblers win wouldn't have been a problem if the money gotten from such taxation would be used for the betterment of the people. It's still going to be same situation where they will tax the poor masses and use it to enrich themselves making the whole scheme counterproductive.

Other countries have been taxing her gamblers and the Usuall copy copy lifestyle is what's just happening and I bet these are the kind of things they would normally want to copy but won't see to it that they are also learning the developmental plan other nations are effecting in thier nation and see to it that they bring it to Nigerian.

[dimonstration]

Yes, I agree with you. Most likely, the methods the government uses may not be justified. Most likely, the number of gamblers will not increase; they will simply move online en masse. There may be fewer people in the casinos and slot machines. But in general I don't think people will stop gambling because the tax on winnings will be increased, I think people will look for other ways to gamble to avoid paying taxes.

I doubt that a land based casino player will be discouraged to play by just adding taxes with their game unless the tax percentage level is insane then this is possible.

Land based casino is playing due to the gambling experience live in the casino. It’s very hard to enjoy online casino if you are a regular land based casino since you will keep looking for the physical experience that you enjoy in the casino.

I tried land based a couple of times and I will choose playing on it compared to online casino if my location is near on it.

[Mr.suevie]

Nigeria is taxing gambling winnings:

Taxes on winnings from betting in Nigeria?

All winnings from bets placed in Nigeria are subject to tax. So, if you win big, make sure to set aside some money for taxes.

Any income earned from gambling activities is subject to general income tax laws. This means that if you are considered a professional gambler, your winnings may be subject to income tax.

Nigeria was better before when there was less taxes. This is another way to increase the tax and not that the Nigerian government are just introducing taxes in gambling.

If you win big, the Nigerian government will know and you must pay tax.

Well bro to say the truth I haven't really encountered this before or maybe it's because I have not won because I see that there are lots of people that understand this whole taxing of winnings in gambling especially the foreign but it's strange to me as a Nigerian because the taxing system in Nigeria is a little bit different because for all my wins and time playing both on online and even the physical shop that people gamble and win, I have not heard anything about them being taxed .

[Rockstarguy]

I was reading the news and saw that Nigerian government will soon introduce taxation to gambling. Taxation on gambling is not new in some countries so this will not be surprising to many people. But to Nigerians who are already experiencing difficulty in the economy do you think it is good for the government to still be planning imposing tax on gambling? there are gamblers who still gamble for fun in the country, will imposing a tax on it not push this people closer to depression as some may find it difficult to gamble comfortably. I also find it strange that the World Bank is supporting this with a financial support package of value close to $2.25million.
Since the taxation may not affect the crypto gambling community in Nigeria, this will encourage more gamblers to gamble now on crypto platforms right?

https://www.thecable.ng/world-bank-offers-support-as-fg-plans-to-introduce-telecoms-gambling-taxes/

If the government wants to take tax serious gambling companies and gambling house it won't be bad because already they are making money but if the tax collection is something that has to do with gamblers it won't make any sense. Normally gambling is a risky game and after playing Several times and it ended as lose and one luckily win then tax will be collected. Gambling is a game of fun and if one wins it should be as compensation of all the lose that have taken place. I think this can reduce the interest of so many gamblers from gambling because their no essence to play when government will be having a cut from every win.

[traderethereum]

If that taxation are for the winners in gambling, that will not be a problem for them because they can pays that taxes from their wins money. But if every gambler must pay the tax when they playing gambling, they could disagree because they thinks that gambling is just for fun.
But if the government still wants to introduction taxation to gambling, their people can not do anything except obey the regulation. They can not disagree with the regulation but they can complain with the regulation, especially if the tax percentage is too big for them.
The government must discuss this to all elements so they will know how much percentage that they can use for the taxation. Maybe this is the way from the government to reduce the number of people who playing gambling so there will be decreasing of the addicted people to gambling.

[Findingnemo]

I am surprised to know that there is no tax for gambling rewards/wins in Nigeria in the first place. They have a template as a reason for imposing taxes on gambling which is to discourage people from doing it, well it is not going to stop but generates revenue for the government and if the taxation amount is in the fair range then it's acceptable but do you know how much percent they are interested? Anything above 20% will push the people to go towards unrecognized forms of gambling.