Nigeria’s gaming ecosystem has always been lively, fast-moving, and full of energy. But recently, a big debate has erupted between one of the country’s most prominent operators and the gaming regulator in Enugu State over how gaming revenue is calculated and how much should be paid in taxes.
While we will avoid naming specific companies, (because of ongoing legal issues), the heart of the matter highlights a challenge that affects all operators in Nigeria: it’s not always clear where gaming money actually comes from, and that makes fair taxation and regulation difficult.
Let’s break this down in a way that makes sense.
Why It’s Hard to Show Where Gaming Money Comes From
Gaming operators in Nigeria deal with three major money flows:
Player deposits: When someone puts money into their gaming account
Bets and stakes: The money that players actually use to place bets
Payouts: When players win and cash out
On paper, tracking these should be straightforward, but in practice, several factors make it complicated:
1. Cashless does not always mean traceable
A lot of gaming transactions happen through digital channels, mobile money, USSD, banks, fintech wallets.
But when players use multiple payment methods or third-party agents to place bets for others, the origin of the money becomes unclear. Regulators are looking for clean, auditable trails. What they often get instead is a jumble of payment routes.
2. Multiple systems, multiple logs
Many operators use foreign-built software. These systems may generate reports differently depending on where they were designed.
One platform might label a transaction as a deposit, another calls it a “stake”, and yet another lumps it all under account activity. Without harmonised reporting formats, comparing apples to apples becomes near-impossible.
3. Offshore and proxy activity
Some operators use servers or payment systems located outside Nigeria, or allow proxy betting (where an agent places bets on behalf of many players). Regulators then face a major question: which bets happened in Nigeria? Which currencies were used? Which markets were served? Without clear location tags, accurate revenue calculation gets fuzzy.
4. Informal layering
In many Nigerian communities, players still use agents to place bets, handle funds, or cash out. Informal agents may split revenue or move money around before it hits the operator’s official system.
This practice muddies the origin of the funds, and regulators cannot see what they cannot measure.
All of this makes it challenging for regulators to calculate Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR), the key figure used for taxation, compliance checks, and revenue sharing. Without confidence in the numbers, disputes arise, trust erodes, and the entire industry becomes defensive.
How Regulators Can Enforce Accurate GGR | The Tech-Friendly Way
If the goal is fair taxation and accurate reporting, then the solution has to be rooted in visibility, standardisation, and technology.
Here’s how Nigeria can move forward:
i. Real-time connectivity to operator data
Instead of waiting for monthly reports or spreadsheets, regulators should require operators to integrate their systems directly with a regulatory monitoring platform (already pioneered in states like Enugu). When regulators can see daily or hourly transaction data, discrepancies are caught early, and audits become much simpler.
ii. Standardised reporting formats
If every operator uses a different way of labelling and structuring financial data, reconciliation becomes a nightmare.
Regulators should define a unified reporting standard, a common language for gaming activity. This would make all reports readable and comparable, no matter the platform.
iii. Clear geo-tagging of activity
Operators should be required to tag every transaction with location metadata, not in a privacy-violating way, but in a manner that distinguishes where the betting activity occurred.
This makes it easier to determine which funds fall under which state’s jurisdiction.
iv. Transparent audits and reconciliations
Digital systems can automatically reconcile payments, stakes, and payouts. A regular automated audit can flag anomalies before they become disputes. It also reduces the manual workload and human error that often lead to confusion.
v. Player-centric transaction records
Instead of looking at aggregated numbers alone, a better system tracks transaction flows per player account, linking deposits to stakes to payouts. This creates a traceable chain of events, making revenue calculations far more defensible.
Why This Matters for Everyone
Operators want clarity too. No one benefits from endless back-and-forth over figures that nobody trusts. When revenue data is clean, transparent, and instantly verifiable, operators can plan better, invest confidently, and expand.
Regulators can enforce the law fairly, collect what is due, and build public trust. Players get a gaming market that feels secure, accountable, and professional.
Gaming in Nigeria is too big and too important to be held back by unclear numbers and outdated reporting systems.
