Licensed betting sites in Nigeria: legal and regulated bookmakers

Sports betting is open to over-18s in the states that license it, and a bookmaker licensed in Nigeria holds its licence from a state regulator. Who issues that licence changed in November 2024. The Supreme Court struck down the National Lottery Act 2005 as it applied to the states and held that lotteries and gaming belong to state governments.

Betting companies are now licensed state by state, by bodies such as the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority. The remit of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) is in effect limited to the Federal Capital Territory. State regulators have also agreed a Universal Reciprocity Certificate for online betting across member states, as a briefing by Aluko & Oyebode explains. The news piece on who regulates betting in Nigeria follows the changes.

The licence each site names is also shown in the table of the best betting sites in Nigeria. Each betting site review sets out what the operator states about it, and the crypto list prints the licence beside the coins.

A licensed betting site says which regulator issued its licence. Checking takes four steps.

1. Scroll to the footer and find the regulator and the licence number the site names.
2. Open the regulator’s own website by typing its address yourself, and look for the company among its licensees.
3. Check that the company name in the footer matches the name at the regulator.
4. Look for clear terms, an address and a way to reach support before you fund your account.

For Lagos, the regulator publishes its list of licensed operators. Each row gives the company, its trade name, the licence category and the dates the licence runs between.

Being registered is not the same thing as being licensed. Registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission makes a business a company; a gaming licence is a separate document, issued by a regulator. A search for registered betting companies should end at a regulator’s list of licensees.

International brands work under licences issued outside Nigeria; Curaçao is a common example. An offshore licence is a real licence, but it is not regulation by a Nigerian state authority. The rules are the issuing regulator’s, and a complaint goes there, under its procedures.

A brand can also appear twice: a local company on a state register, and an international site under an offshore licence. The licence that covers your account is the one named on the site where you registered. Look it up on the issuing regulator’s website in the same way, and decide if it suits you before you deposit.