Africa Gaming Operators Move To Blacklist Members Flouting Regulations

Amid high prevalence of young people between ages 12 and 14 engaging in sports betting despite the 18 years legal limit, fresh facts emerged on Friday that operators in the Africa continent have resolved to blacklist and sanction operators flouting the regulations.

Investigations revealed that underage betting is on the increase due to poverty, peer pressure and aggressive marketing.

The chief executive officer of the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority, Bashir Are made the disclosure during a press conference held in Victoria Island, Lagos to herald the 2026 Africa Gaming Expo (AGE), designed with a cross-border collaboration for job creation across African economies.

The Expo to be hosted by the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, as a way of reinforcing the state’s position as Africa’s leading commercial, technology and regulatory hub is  themed, “Africa’s Gaming Market: Frontier to Prominence.”

Bashir, flanked by other organisers like the chief executive officer of African Gaming Expo, Charles Ekundayo; the chief operating officer, Africa Gaming Expo, Adenike Oyebamiji; the chief operating officer, LSLGA, Samuel Roland; the chairman, Association of Nigeria Bookmakers (ANB) Sheriff Olaniyan and the executive secretary, ANB, Tamunopreye Tuadibofa, said about 11,000 delegates are expected to converge on Lagos for the third edition of the expo that will take place from March 24 to 27.

Harping on the problem of underage gaming, Are said, “To make sure that underage are not being allowed, we can minimize it, we may not be able to eliminate it in short time but we have like a mystery shopper that will go in there like a young child they don’t ask for your identity they are in trouble and the fines are very high.

“But the advantage of online is the fact that if you are online, you have to have a wallet system to fund your wallet in order to stake. So the KYC from the banking system already protects that aspect because if you don’t have your NIN, BVN is already in the banking system.

“So there are so many things that we are doing. It is not a lot, but we are going to continue to do more. We are going to amplify it.

“Now, to tie it to the African Gaming Expo now, on the continent, we also have partnerships with South Africa, Gambia, Ghana, Malta, United Kingdom, Jamaica, Brazil, because online is borderless. So we have what is called reciprocity enforcement.

“So we submit a report to each other, so you think this is how the operator is going out of line. So we have those kinds of partnerships on a global scale. We are going to increase it, but we have some of these.

“And for AGE, when the regulator comes from all over the world, that’s we have a regulatory forum where we discuss issues, problems in the industry.

“We normally reach the conclusion that this is where we will go. One of the things that we have concluded to implement moving forward is called an African blacklist, we can blacklist operators jointly on the continent. So injury to one is injury to all. So we have to protect the citizens because it’s a form of consumer protection.’”