Lagos wants other African regulators working with it against illegal betting platforms that operate across borders while regulation stays confined to one country at a time. The call came today from Bashir Abiola Are, CEO of the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LSLGA) and Chairman of Nigeria's Federation of State Gaming Regulators (FSGRN).
Are's argument is straightforward: online gambling does not respect state or national lines, but the agencies that regulate it do. A platform banned in Lagos can keep taking bets from Lagos residents as long as it is licensed, or simply based, somewhere else. He named illegal offshore operators as the hardest problem on that list, alongside digital payments, advertising, player identification and real-time transaction monitoring.
Lagos already has one working example of what cross-border enforcement looks like. The state has a bilateral agreement with Botswana: an operator illegal in Lagos but licensed in Botswana can be acted on by both regulators at once, instead of each working alone. Are pointed to this as the kind of cooperation he wants repeated elsewhere in Africa.
The call follows Lagos's own enforcement record. In September 2026, the LSLGA and the FSGRN declared Stake.com an unlicensed, illegal operator in Lagos and extended that finding across the federation's other member states, after what the regulators said were repeated compliance notices that went unanswered. The regulators said enforcement could reach beyond the operator itself, to payment firms, banks, advertising platforms and even influencers found to be helping run an unlicensed site.
Lagos High Court rulings have already held that an operator cannot dodge Lagos law simply by moving its administrative office or its servers outside the state. That gives Are's call some weight: Lagos tested the legal argument in its own courts before asking other regulators to apply the same logic across borders.
For operators, a licence gap in one market may not stay contained to that market if regulators act on this. For players, it is a reminder that an unlicensed site is unlicensed everywhere it operates, whatever its marketing says. The Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority is one of the more active state regulators on the continent, and Are also sits on the International Association of Gaming Regulators board of trustees, which gives this call a wider hearing than Lagos alone.
Also Read: Nigeria Gambling Licence: Which Regulator Issues It
Who is Bashir Are? He is the CEO of the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority, a role he has held since 2019, and he chairs the Federation of State Gaming Regulators of Nigeria.
What happened to Stake.com in Nigeria? In September 2026, Lagos and the state regulators' federation declared Stake.com an unlicensed operator and extended the finding to 24 other member states.
Does Lagos coordinate with regulators outside Nigeria? Yes. Lagos has a bilateral agreement with Botswana that lets both regulators act on an operator that is illegal in one state and licensed in the other.
Sources: SiGMA World, 14 November 2026; TechEconomy, 11 September 2026; IAGR speaker profile.
This article is for information, not legal or tax advice. Sources last checked on 14 November 2026. Gambling is for adults only (18+).
