the Economic Impact of Online Gambling in Nigeria: An Analysis

Gambling in Nigeria

Gambling has always been present in Nigeria but in the past it was seen as an antisocial activity and was actively disappointed by the church, which warned against the quest for speedy wealth. In the late 1990s , in Chapter 22 , section 236 of the Criminal Code Act, the Nigerian government validated certain forms of gambling in a trial to formulate tax revenues.

1. This has made gambling more acceptable to the public, specifically to the under-aged.

2. The utmost famous forms of gambling in Nigeria nowadays are online sports betting (e.g. football league promotions and the pools), the lottery and slot machines.

  1. Many Nigerians view gambling as a safe leisure activity: a current study of the Nigerian general peoples found that 36% of adult respondents had gambled and 53% of these people were daily gamblers.

4. However, some argue that difficulties gambling in Nigeria, in the near future, will be a huge public health problem than substance misuse.

Illegal gambling, especially betting on football, is highly famous in Nigeria, although its precise scale is unknown. It is surprising that, in spite of the nature and scale of this problem, gambling and its related problems have not been adequately researched in Nigeria.

Laws about Gambling in Nigeria

Gambling is a couple legal and illegal depending on the kind. Many agree that there is a need for new laws/rules, as recently, there is a lack of stringent regulation and fragile enforcement of applicable legislation. Since there are no particular laws about online gambling, except the National Lottery Act of 2005, in theory, legislation that concerns land-based wagering should also be put into the digital sphere. That said, in December of 2019, the state of Lagos began allowing licenses for online sports betting, and Nigerians have been playing at seaward online casinos for decades without fear of prosecution. They can get great profit even get cashback casino which is very popular these days.

Impacts of gambling in economy of Nigeria

Nigeria is one of Africa’s economic chiefs, and the continent’s financial state depends, significantly, on what occurs in Naija. Over the last many years, the country’s economy has been fastly growing, marking a magnificent annual average development rate of 7%. With an approximated 60 million Nigerians readily betting on sports, it is no wonder that those in the gambling industry trust that the West African Nation has the potential to become the continent’s biggest online betting market.

Jobs

No one can debate that gambling formulates jobs. According to a report from the American Gaming Association, the over 1,000 casinos across 40 US states directly formulate over 750,000 jobs. Las Vegas alone hires more than 400,000 people in its many gaming venues. Macau has a strength of 631,000, and close to 10% of Macau residents work in the directorial region’s gambling industry.

These stats do not factor in employment in the hospitality sector, which sees tremendous advantages from gaming, and the same is put into the travel industry. Thus, such values are more than double if we were to factor in the indirectly formulated employment opportunities.

When it comes to the digital edge of objects, gambling formulates employment in the IT-sphere, where operators hire local expertise with programming, design, hardware, and computer networking abilities. Furthermore, gaming websites require  24/7 customer support, so operators also employ non-tech individuals to assist bettors with any potential issues regarding their facilities. People savvy in digital marketing are also needed. Their job is to entice players to register and bet on these sites through social media campaigns.

Sadly, Nigeria has only three land-based casinos and a handful of well respected sports betting platforms, so the country has just scratched the boundary/surface regarding gaming employment.