The Director General of Oyo State Gaming and Lottery Board, Mr. Olajide Boladuro, has warned that gaming and lottery centres without operational license within the state will be shut.
Mr Boladuro handed down the warning Tuesday evening while speaking on the sealing of three gaming centres in Ibadan by the enforcement team of the board.
He disclosed that the sealing of the gaming centres located at Bodija, Idi-Ape and Dugbe areas of Ibadan was due to the failure of some operators of the gaming and lottery centers to regularise their operations with the appropriate body of the State Government responsible for their regularisation and control.
According to Mr Boladuro, “the role of the Board is to regulate, curtail and promote the business of gaming and lottery in Oyo State”
He stressed that the ” Board has written on several occasions to the illegal operators of the gaming and lottery centers who were not licensed by the Board to operate in the State to come to the Board for dialogue and proper registration.
“We regulate, we promote and we protect the citizens of Oyo State that are interested in the business of gaming and lottery and we want them to have a good experience”, he said.
Mr Boladuro added, “those who are found violating the law by operating anything gaming, lottery, casino pools or scratch cards illegally, we try to enforce them to regularize and do their legitimate business within the State.
“This exercise is ongoing and it is a warning to others that are also in this category of unregistered status that the long arm of the law will soon catch them.”
Boladuro pointed out that the present administration in Oyo state has created an enabling environment for the gaming and lottery business to operate with laws that they must follow and abide by, which will certify them to do their business in the state.
