Lottery operators defrauding government - Akume

The Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume, has accused lottery operators of failing to remit 25 per cent generated revenue to the coffers of the Federal Government.

Akume who spoke at a stakeholders meeting yesterday in Abuja noted that government would put in place a central monitoring system to checkmate the amount of money made by operators.

The Minister added that the government would also put in place modalities to clamp down on defaulting operators. He argued that operators must, first of all, pay their taxes to the Federal Government before the states.

“You know what you are supposed to do even in the absence of a central monitoring system. It is sad that we have continued to run at risk with nothing coming to government coffers. And this is why we set up an inter-ministerial committee to recover what is governments. 

“It is going to be reinvigorated in the next few weeks. On the issue of the central monitoring system, we have decided that in the interim, we will put in place a system so that all operators can show working,” he said.

Meanwhile, Director-General of the National Lottery Commission, Lanre Gbajabiamila, clarified that states regulators lacked the jurisdiction to supervise online betting but that only the Federal Government should. He, however, added that the Federal Government would partner with states to have a win-win situation.

“I am aware of the challenges faced by operators. But I can assure you that we are going to include them in our Bill that will be sent to the National Assembly which will cover rules and modalities of operators in such a way that state regulators cannot do anything without us."