Charles Akhenamen challenges Nigeria’s gaming regulators and operators to replace hollow disclaimers with meaningful, enforceable actions that put player welfare first

If you’ve ever placed a bet or bought a lottery ticket in Nigeria, you know the familiar disclaimer: ‘18+ Only. Bet Responsibly’. These words are everywhere, plastered on betting shop windows, flashed in app banners, and squeezed into TV ads. They are meant to signal that the industry cares about player welfare. But when these warnings become mere wallpaper, a compliance checkbox rather than a genuine commitment, the consequences can be devastating.

The global gambling industry has already learned this lesson the hard way. And unless Nigeria’s operators and regulators move beyond slogans to substance, we may find ourselves walking the same painful path.

Lessons from abroad

The United Kingdom, often held up as the gold standard of gambling regulation, has spent the past few years battling scandals, lawsuits, and heavy fines. One of the most talked-about cases is that of Lee Gibson, a millionaire property investor who lost £1.5 million on Betfair Exchange over a decade of high-stakes betting. He placed more than 30,000 bets — sometimes up to £20,000 on obscure matches — and was treated as a VIP client. Now, he is suing the company, arguing that Betfair “knew or ought to have known” he was addicted and should have intervened.

Britain’s Gambling Commission has been anything but lenient. In 2023, it fined William Hill £19.2 million for failing to protect customers and prevent money laundering. One customer reportedly lost £23,000 in just 20 minutes — without a single affordability check. A year earlier, Entain, the parent company of Ladbrokes and Coral, paid a £17 million penalty for similar lapses. Regulators even considered suspending William Hill’s license entirely.

The message from the UK is clear: token responsible gaming (RG) measures are no longer acceptable. The era of passive RG — where a company meets its obligations with a small banner and a buried self-exclusion link — is over. It’s not just bad ethics; it’s bad business.

The African reality

It would be easy to dismiss these as “first-world problems.” But across Africa, the gambling boom has already left deep scars. In Kenya, where betting is a national obsession, tragedy has struck repeatedly. Media reports have linked multiple suicides to gambling losses — from a student who took his life after losing his tuition on a soccer bet, to a mother who died by suicide in 2024 after an online game wiped out her savings. A 2022 East African study tied at least 18 suicides directly to gambling, most of them in Kenya.

South Africa offers a glimpse of both progress and pitfalls. The country’s regulators have mandated self-exclusion programs and visible RG messages such as “Winners know when to stop.” A national Responsible Gambling Foundation supports treatment services, and casino staff are trained to spot problem gamblers. Yet the system remains reactive. A player banned in one province can simply reappear in another, and affordability checks are not yet standard. Even South Africa is now exploring data-driven early interventions, recognising that prevention is cheaper — and kinder — than cure.

Nigeria’s critical crossroads

Nigeria’s gaming market is red-hot — driven by a young population, high internet penetration, and a struggling economy where betting often feels like a shortcut to survival. By some estimates, more than 65 million Nigerians actively engage in betting daily. But as the market grows, so does the human cost.

In July 2025, a young man in Abuja, Stephen Chidubem, reportedly ended his life after falling into gambling debt. Earlier that year, a student in Ogun State did the same after losing his and his friend’s tuition fees. Psychologists are warning of a rise in betting-related anxiety, depression, and financial breakdown among young Nigerians.

To its credit, the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LSLGA) has stepped forward. Its SafePlay platform, launched in 2025, is Africa’s first regulator-led, multi-operator self-exclusion system. It allows players to voluntarily block themselves from all licensed betting sites across Lagos with a single action — a breakthrough for player protection. SafePlay represents a shift from symbolic warnings to structural safeguards.

But beyond Lagos, the picture remains grim. Most Nigerian RG measures still rely on self-discipline. Operators emphasise “responsible play” while pouring millions into flashy marketing campaigns. Billboards and celebrity endorsements glamourise betting as a lifestyle, drowning out the small print that urges caution.

The next step: From awareness to accountability

The uncomfortable truth is that Nigeria’s gambling sector still treats responsible gaming as a checkbox — a PR obligation, not a core principle. Yet operators possess the very tools that could change the story. They already use advanced analytics to target players with bonuses, notifications, and custom odds. The same technology could just as easily detect risky betting behaviour and trigger early intervention.

True responsibility means more than slogans. It means proactive protection, affordability checks, and data transparency. It means regulators enforcing player-centric standards and operators seeing welfare not as a cost, but as the foundation of sustainability.

Because when ‘Play Responsibly’ becomes a whisper under the roar of ‘Win Big’, the system isn’t responsible at all. And as international experience shows, the cost of inaction — measured not just in money, but in human lives — is far too high.