FG To Ban Some Sports Betting Companies, Arrests Officials

The  Federal Government through the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) has vowed to weed out some Sports betting companies in the country.

The frantic decision was taken following the discovery of some sports betting companies operating in Lagos State with forged permits, Naija News understands.

NLRC Director-General, Lanre Gbajabiamila, in a statement handed down on Monday through the commission’s spokesperson, Magnus Ekechukwu, said some officials of the defaulting companies have been arrested and would be made a scapegoat to their likes still ghosting around.

Gbajabiamila said that the Commission will deploy every available legal instrument to weed out all criminal elements operating within the Nigerian gaming industry.

He reiterated that the arrested criminals are being prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others who could be nursing similar ideas.

The NLRC DG found it strange and disturbing that in the present dispensation people could want to defraud the federal government believing they would not be arrested.

He said, “Let all criminals steer clear of the lottery industry because I can assure them, they would be arrested and prosecuted.

“The criminals already arrested will serve as an example to other criminal elements to defraud the government.

“We will neither allow nor tolerate such criminality in our industry,” Gbajabiamila emphasized.

He further stated that the Commission stands for integrity, transparency and accountability which are the hallmarks of the gaming business in Nigeria.

The DG stressed that any operator who fails to heed these core values runs the risk of violating the rules and guidelines of the Commission; a situation that attracts stringent consequences.

He called on staff of the Commission, licensed operators, as well as the general public to be more vigilant in the quest to fish out illegal operators who are out there to thwart the good effort of the Commission in building a robust Nigerian gaming industry, while also encouraging the licensed operators to always play by the rules.