Nigeria – Kaduna State sealed offices of sport betting & lottery over tax debt

The Kaduna Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS) on Thursday sealed off offices used by some gaming companies for allegedly owing taxes and operating illegally in the state. NAN reports that the affected companies are K.C. Gaming Networks Ltd. Owners of bet9ja, BetKing, Acess Bet, and Derby Lotto.

Zaid Abubakar, (KADIRS) executive chairman, said the enforcement exercise was because the gaming brands, as mentioned above, did not register with the internal revenue agency and were not licensed to operate in the state.

Abubakar further said that the companies were also withholding taxes close to N500 million, K.C. Gaming Networks N325 million, BetKing N68 million, and Acessbet N33 million. He further said that the operators of the gaming companies were required by law to integrate their operation into the KADIRS database, but failed to do so.

According to him, the decision to seal off the offices is aimed at enforcing compliance with the law’s provision and strengthening the revenue collection mechanism in the state. He explained that the Kaduna state tax codification and consolidation law had mandated gaming companies to register and obtain licensed before they operate gaming business in the state. However, section 86 of the law required that any gaming company wishing to operate in the state shall, upon payment of non-refundable N400, 000 registration fee, apply in writing for an operating license.

Abubakar also said before the enforcement there has sent out letters to the companies’ owners asking them to come forward and register in line with the requirements of the law but failed to do so, which prompt them to decide to close down their offices. If they fail to come forward and regularize their operations within the next 14 days, we will prosecute them according to the law. According to Abubakar, gaming companies as mop about N2billion monthly from the state and were not paying a kobo to the state government as tax.