Cross Rivers State Lotteries and Gaming Authority Commissioner Michael Ejah said an estimated 60 million Nigerians gamble every day.
He said Nigeria’s gambling industry is doing very well and is currently worth between 500 billion and 600 billion naira.
Despite this, more than 90 percent of the gambling industry’s potential remains untapped, he said.
Ejah said this on Friday at the launch of a new sports betting platform, Woskibet, in Abuja.
“The value of the gambling industry in Africa is about $1 billion.Last year it generated $243 million in revenue in Lagos State alone.That’s why gambling is huge.And people are starting to understand the nature of gambling. ” he said.
“Nigeria currently has a revenue of over 500 billion to 600 billion Norwegians. If I remember correctly, there are over 150 million people in this country.
“And now, from the statistics we have, we know that about 60 million Nigerians gamble every day. We are not capturing 90% of that market.”
Regarding the federal government’s complaints about gambling centers failing to remit money to the Treasury, he said: “Government is doing its best. They are upgrading the platform and all operators are They are working very hard to ensure that they are introduced into the tax network and gradually we are starting to introduce them as well.
“So, over time, we will benefit from the revenue that the gaming industry can generate in Nigeria.”
