The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has renewed its Memorandum of Understanding with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), with provisions to deter unapproved lottery and gaming practices on telecommunications platforms through information and intelligence sharing.
A statement issued by Director Public Affairs NCC Reuben Muoka on Wednesday, noted that Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta disclosed that the MoU will impact the gaming industry.
“is in sync with the Commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP) and is in a bid to promote fair practices in the industry for the protection of telecommunications consumers in relation to lottery and gaming activities,” he said.
He said the collaboration is in line with the provisions of Commission’s SVP, 2021-2025, which provides for facilitation of strategic partnership and collaboration with other bodies to enhance service delivery.
“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, ” he said.
On his part, the Director General of NLRC, Mr Lanre Gbajabiamila, expressed confidence that the MoU will yield favourable outcomes in curbing illegal online gambling as he shared his hope that NCC and NLRC will achieve their intentions in the interest of gaming stakeholders.
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.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Executive Commissioner (Stakeholder Management), Barr. Adeleke Adewolu, disclosed that the MoU was designed to address recent technology information-sharing capabilities, and consumer satisfaction and to enhance areas of co-regulation in line with the federal government’s digital economy mandate.
