Lagos State Lotteries Board Objects, to the New Proposed National Gaming Bill.

There was a public hearing on the new proposed National Gaming Bill on the 9^th of February, 2022 at the National Assembly. As has been discussed elsewhere, the Lagos State and the Federal has been enmeshed on a tug of legal war on whose right it is to legislate on lottery/gaming operations in Nigeria.

The matter has gone through the lower courts, Court of Appeal and its currently pending at the Supreme Court.

At the public hearing, the LSLB through its lawyers, raised the objection that the National Assembly lacks the powers to legislate on lotteries, being that lotteries/gaming fall under the residual list, and thus is within the ambit of the State (s) to legislate on its operations. They stated that the issue of who can legislate on lotteries related matters is pending before the Supreme Court and so the National Assembly cannot go forward with this proposed bill, which gives powers of legislation to the Federal.

The National Assembly however, plans to go ahead with the proposed legislation, regardless of the LSLB’s objections.

It is apparent that should the State win at the Supreme Court, the new legialation will become null and void, so maybe it would have been tidier to wait for the judgement of the Supreme Court on the matter.

The legal and political battle between the State and the Federal, on the legislation of lotteries in Nigeria and its impact on the industry, will be discussed more extensively in another article.