The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has signed a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Lottery Regulatory Commission, (NLRC) to prevent unapproved lottery and gaming practices on telecommunications platforms through information and intelligence sharing.
Speaking on the revised pact, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, explained that the MoU aligned with the commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP) and part of the partners’ efforts to promote fair practices for the protection of telecom consumers in the lottery and gaming business.
The EVC maintained that the pact was in line with the provisions of Commission’s SVP, 2021-2025, which encourage the commission to partner and collaborate with other agencies to enhance service delivery.
He expatiated: “The initial MoU expired in 2022, amendments and modifications have been made since no MoU is cast in stone, especially given the industry’s dynamic nature.”
In his remarks, the NLRC’s Director-General, Lanre Gbajabiamila, expressed confidence that the MoU would help in curbing illegal online gambling as he shared his hope that NCC and NLRC would achieve their intentions in the interest of gaming stakeholders in the country.
He noted how unapproved lottery and gaming activities and practices undermine the integrity of domestic and global gaming markets to the detriment of stakeholders in addition to undermining consumer confidence in these markets, hence the collaboration with the Commission to arrest such tendencies.
The new MoU replaces the former which was first signed by both organizations and expired in 2022. It provides complementary approaches to deter unapproved lottery/gaming practices on telecommunications platforms through information and intelligence sharing in recognition of how unapproved lottery and gaming activities and practices undermine the integrity of domestic and global gaming markets to the detriment of stakeholders in addition to undermining consumer confidence in these markets.
