A sports betting company seeking to operate online in Lagos would be required to obtain operational permit from the Lagos State Lottery and Gaming Authority (“LSLGA”). The process of obtaining the LSLGA’s sports betting permit entails the submission of the following requirements:
i. Application letter
ii. Non-refundable application fee of N500,000 (US$1,000);
iii. Documentary Evidence of Incorporation (such as certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles of association, proof of the company’s 20 million share capital fully subscribed, CAC documents showing details of directors and registered address and administrative office of the sports betting company);
iv. Detailed business plan or feasibility study report on the online sports betting scheme covering the following information:
Information about Business Structure
- Address of the registered office, branches and planned outlets, this must be lock-up shops –kiosks and mobile vendors are not allowed;
- Names, contact address and profiles directors of the sports betting company;
- Tax Clearance Certificate of directors in the last three (3) years;
- Description of operations and management structure;
- A sports betting industry analysis that clearly demonstrates an understanding of the sports betting industry. Please note that the analysis must include names of major players and market share.
- Marketing and distribution plan;
Information about the Proposed Sports Betting Operation
- Details of planned games;
- Relevant sport activity;
- Approximate odds to be used;
- Prizes and price structure;
- Number and frequency of sports/games;
- Operators’ game rules and participants’ Code of Practice;
Information about the Financial Projections
- Management account of your organization;
- Company’s bank statement for the one (1) year in support of financial plans;
- Five years projected profit and loss account, balance sheet, cash flow analysis (this should capture for the annual license fee of N50,000,000/US$100,000 for the first year, annual renewal fee of N10,000,000/US$20,000 and projected monthly profit and expenditures including monthly gaming tax of 2.5% of sales revenue)
- Nature and extent of financing and capital investment (please indicate if foreign investment is involved in the business and if any, terms of the investment);
- Capital budgets showing set up costs and assets schedule of over 5 years.
v. Detailed information about the applicant’s bookmaker, betting sites and technical consultants;
vi. Detailed information on proposed technical topography including a schematic diagram clearly illustrating the technical operational flow covering the following:
General information
- Architectural diagram clearly illustrating the technical operational flow;
- Proposed platform –self host or cloud based;
- If cloud based, the contact information of the hosting company;
Hardware Information
- Detailed information on the type of servers to be used;
- Detailed information on firewall, routers etc;
- Redundancy implementation (if any);
Software
- Operating systems specifications;
- Database application specifications.
vii. Process and System Quality Assurance.
Please Note: The LSLGA will review every application for suitability of the applicant for the license. As part of the application process, the LSLGA will require the applicants to make a presentation before the LSLGA. Where the applicant satisfactorily fulfills all the pre-approval requirements, an AIP will be granted for 90 days. Like the NLRC’s AIP, the LSLGA’s AIP is a temporary license usually granted with conditions. Whenever the sports betting company has fulfilled the conditions for the AIP, a letter should be addressed to the LSLB advising the Board of the compliance and seeking the grant of the substantive license. The substantive license will thereafter be issued only upon fulfillment of all the conditions highlighted in the AIP.
4. Timelines for Completion: There are different timelines for completing the stages of the process of incorporation and licensing of a sports betting company in Nigeria. The incorporation of a company by the CAC usually takes one (1) day. The review of the pre-license application and the application for provisional approval by the NLR, usually takes about 10 working days for each stage. The NLRC’s Provisional Approval (which applies to Abuja) has a lifespan of 90 days during which all the conditions of its grant must be fulfilled. Similar timelines are applicable to the LSLGA, as shown above. Apart from drafting and documentation, processing certified true copy of incorporation documents, registration of trademark which have varying timelines, the entire process can be completed between 10 weeks and 12 weeks.
