Nigeria to capture gaming duty at source

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The Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria has signed an agreement with fintech company E-Technologies Global to help modernise its tax collection system as part of a wider move to attract gaming operators.

As part of the project, a managed service through E-Tech’s Sentinal National Payment Gateway will instruct integrated payment service providers to deduct taxes or charges at the point of transaction and remit funds in real-time to the government’s treasury accounts.

It is part of a new initiative by the National Lottery Regulatory Commission of Nigeria to attract tier one offshore global gaming operators to apply for a five year permit to offer all gaming and sports-betting services to Nigerian players. Operators must comply with full risk-based AML screening and pass the “fit and proper” test to demonstrate responsible gaming practices before being granted a Remote Operator Permit.

All approved operators will then connect to Sentinal where gaming duty will be deducted from player deposits and remitted directly to the government in real-time. The permit has the advantage of allowing global operators to legitimately offer online gaming services to Nigerian players without the need to incorporate locally in-country and is subject to their continuing compliance.

Mohammad Nami, executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria, said:

“The world is entering a challenging time where there is a strong obligation on governments to increase tax revenue as a percentage of GDP so as to provide much needed funding for local infrastructure and public services. Nigeria needs to innovate and harness technology to ensure that online transactions are taxed and accounted for. We have been very impressed with the Sentinal System which allows us to not only collect tax revenues at source, but also provides us with tax reporting and monitoring tools in real-time. The system will integrate with our own TaxPro Max portal.”

Lanre Gbajabiamila, director general of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission of Nigeria, added:

“Online gaming continues to grow rapidly in Nigeria, particularly on mobile, and the adoption of E-Technologies’ Sentinal National Payment Gateway is a huge step to allow us to capture gaming duty at source. We are welcoming all responsible offshore gaming operators to apply for a Remote Operator Permit as long as they pass all the relevant criteria including full AML screening and responsible gaming practices. We are proud to be the first country to adopt the Sentinal System and we believe it will bring a real national benefit to Nigeria.”

David Kicks, CEO of E-Technologies Global, said:

“Governments in rapidly developing nations are struggling to keep pace with the evolution of ecommerce and the ascent of mobile transactions. E-Technologies was created specifically to address this issue and we have built an incredibly strong team with unrivalled expertise across fintech, ecommerce and igaming.”

Source: intergameonline.com