Just a month after he banned the wearing of miniskirts in schools, the governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, has found something else he doesn’t like. On October 21, 2022, the state government ordered businesses to suspend all gaming and casino activities.
What caused the ban?
The government said it took the action after receiving petitions about the manipulation of casino machines. The petitions also called the transparency of game winnings into question. Soludo’s government said these allegations constitute an abuse of global best practices in the gaming industry. So this ban is the fault of 419 operators and Soludo won’t let it stand under his watch.
The ban will stay in place until the government concludes its investigations.
How are people reacting?
Some people have expressed worry that the governor’s ban on gambling will affect popular online betting platforms, but others have hailed the move because gambling has “ruined many lives”.
Another category of critics consider it a misplacement of priorities for a government that should focus on the flooding disaster that has affected many Anambra communities.
Is this move unprecedented?
This isn’t the first time a state governor is taking the hammer to gambling in Nigeria. In 2019, Bauchi State passed a bill banning all forms of gambling and gaming operations in the state. In 2018, then Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, ordered online betting agents out of the state to eradicate gambling.
Despite these bans, gambling is on the rise in Nigeria, driven by a high youth unemployment rate and the allure for quick cash. There have been recent debates in the National Assembly regarding passing a bill to regulate the industry.
Overall, regulation on gambling in Nigeria is relatively lax, which makes gamblers susceptible to fraud especially from unlicensed gaming operators. If properly regulated, it presents an avenue for governments to earn money by imposing a sin tax — a tax on activities deemed to be socially harmful to deter people from engaging in them.
We’ll see how this plays out in the coming days.
