1. Introduction
Oyo State is a Southwestern State in Nigeria with about 28,454 square kilometers and the 5th most populous State in Nigeria with estimated population of over 10,000,000. Oyo State is bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the east by Osun State, and to the southwest by Ogun State and the Benin Republic. It was the capital and commercial hub of the old western region.
Gaming activities in Oyo State is regulated by the Oyo State Gaming Board. In Oyo State, there are two licensing categories for casino, Casino A or Tier A (for Hotels, Guest Houses, Motels, and Executive Inns, etc.) and Casino B or Tier B (Stand Alone Establishment and Online casino).
Casino A/Tier A covers casino activities on hotel premises. The tariff in this tier includes a licence fee, and where gaming machines are used, a yearly payment is made on each of the machines, alongside licence renewal fee.
Casino B/Tier B, on the other hand, covers all other casino activities outside the hotel premises, retail or online. The tariff is determined per location.
Please note that a Casino Licence in Oyo State, irrespective of the tier, is valid for a period of 1 year and renewable annually.
The recognized authority that makes provision for issuing gaming licence to operators in Oyo state is the Oyo State Gaming Board. They are the body responsible for issuing gaming licence to sports betting platforms, casino, lotto & lottery promoters, promotional competitions/ lotteries, and other gaming activities.
2. Requirements for Casino Licence in Oyo State
An entity seeking to be licensed as a casino game operator must be incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission (“CAC”) with a minimum share capital of N20,000,000. See our article on the requirements for incorporation here.
The requirements for obtaining a casino licence in Oyo State are as follows:
i. Application Letter: The application letter is addressed to Director General of Oyo State Gaming Board;
ii. Payment of Application/Processing Fee: The application fee for Casino A is N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) while for Casino B, the application fee is N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira);
iii. Documentation: A copy of the following documents is required:
(a) Certificate of incorporation and other incorporation documents
(b) A detailed business proposal on the proposed/existing casino and gaming machine operations containing the following information:
- Business Structure detailing:
(i) List and details of all directors and key management personnel.
(ii) Tax clearance certificate of directors (at least one (1) director in the last one (1) year.
(iii) Descriptions of operations and management structure.
(iv) An analysis that demonstrates a clear understanding of the casino gaming industry. The analysis must include the names of key players.
(v) Current gaming licences held by the Applicant in any other State or Country (if any).
(vi) Promotional plan.
- Financial Information/Structure detailing:
(i) Management account of the company.
(ii) Bank statement of the company for the last one (1) year in support of the financial plan.
(iii) A five (5) year projection on profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow analysis. This should cover the licence fee and monthly gaming tax.
(iv) Nature and magnitude of financing and capital investment. Indicate if foreign investment is involved in the business if any, the terms of investment.
(v) Capital budgets showing set up cost and asset schedule over five (5) years.
- Details of Casino Operations including:
(i) Location of casino,
(ii) Proposed/existing brand name, logo, colors trademark,
(iii) Types of table games and machine games to be offered,
(iv) Number of gaming machines to be deployed –note that all machines must bear the applicant’s brand,
(v) Know Your Customer (KYC) processes,
(vi) Price structure,
(vii) Rules and participants’ code of practice and
(viii) Responsible & accountable gaming policies. For example, policies in place to ensure users bet responsibly, ensure that no user is under the age of 18years among other policies.
- Technical structure
(i) Floor plan of casino operations including layout of tables and slot machines
(ii) Details of table games manufacturers/suppliers.
(iii) Details of slot machine manufacturers/suppliers.
(iv) Surveillance system – this should include CCTV planned coverage for the gaming area and general gaming environment
(v) Casino management system which includes; Customer Management, Record Management and Capture of transactional information/gaming machine.
(vi) System Architecture
(vii) Back up Policy and Business Continuity Policy
(viii) Data Protection and Recovery Policy
(ix) Accounting software
It is important to note that an applicant company for a casino licence in Oyo State cannot be wholly-owned by foreigners. At least one (1) Nigerian is required to hold a minimum of fifteen percent (15%) of the shares in a casino company having foreign participation, to achieve indigenous participation and local content requirement.
Also note that every other casino that does not fall within the scope of Casino A or Tier A (i.e., Hotels, Guest Houses, Motels, and Executive Inns, etc.) is required to be licensed under Casino B category and this includes online Casino.
3. Estimated Costs
A breakdown of the financial requirements for obtaining a casino license in Oyo State can be found in the table below:
| TYPE OF LICENCE | SHARE CAPITAL | INCORPORATION COSTS (N) | APPLICATION FEE (N) | LICENSING FEE (N) | RENEWAL FEE (N) | GAMING MACHINES IN PREMISES (N) | BANK GUARANTEE (N) |
| CASINO A (HOTEL) | 20 Million | 355,000 | N500,000 | N10,000,000 | N4,000,000 | N15,000 for each machine annually | N10 Million |
| CASINO B (STAND ALONE) | 20 Million | N355,000 | N200,000 | N2,000,000 | N1,000,000 | N15,000 for each machine annually | N2 Million |
Please note here may be other applicable costs relating to feasibility study report and business proposal and other documentation and miscellaneous expenses for the licensing process.
Please note that a casino company cannot be successfully registered by the CAC without first obtaining the approval and licence of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (“NLRC”). The NLRC has a separate licensing requirements and costs for casino games.
4. Estimated Timeline
Upon filing of all documents and payment of licence fee (or not less than 70% of the total licence fee, the applicant company will be issued with an Approval In Principle (“AIP”) and the AIP will be valid for ninety (90) days. The AIP is a temporal licence to commence the casino game in which the conditions for substantive licence will be contained.
The Gaming board requires a minimum of 10 to 14 working days to conduct due diligence on every application before issuing the substantive licence. The substantive licence will only be issued upon fulfilment of ALL the stated conditions for substantive licence.
The Oyo State Gaming Board may advise the intending gaming operator to fast track the whole process by including a Gaming Laboratory International (“GLI”) certification. With the presentation of a GLI certificate, the timeline for inspection which ordinarily is expected reduce the timeline to seven (7) working days. It is believed that the GLI authorities must have conducted an elaborate investigation on the gaming activities of any gaming operator that has been issued with GLI certification.
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About KORIAT & CO.
We are a growing commercial law firm in Lagos and Abuja. The above article is not legal advice and does not automatically make our readers our clients unless they specifically instruct us to act or represent them in any way.
Please contact Koriat & Co. through admin@koriatlaw.com or 09067842241 if you require additional information about or assistance in making the application for a money lender’s licence.
