The House of Representatives has urged the National Lottery Regulatory Commission to ensure that all Gaming operators in Nigeria integrate the National Identity (NIN) in their data collection.
The House decision followed the adoption of a motion moved by Ibrahim Isiaka (APC, Ogun) at plenary on Thursday.
Isiaka noted in his motion that the global gaming market is undoubtedly a huge one estimated to generate between $400 to $500 billion yearly and with the consistency of the current trends, by 2022, it is set to be worth around $565 billion with increasing amounts of revenues coming from online gaming in its many forms.
He observed that when such large amounts of money are exchanged and transacted quickly through relatively anonymous interactions, there is a significant risk that criminals will be tempted to use the situation for money laundering.
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“Mindful that with age-restricted businesses like casinos and online gaming platforms, the critical barrier to entry for customers is age and identity verification, therefore there is an increased need for such verifications in virtual situations in order to secure both the customers and the operators.
“Cognizant that one of the basic purposes of the National identity Number is for identification, as it not only serves to identify the individual holder but also curbs duplication of identities.
“Convinced that it is imperative for regulators to place a premium on data security of gamers and gaming operators and one readily available way to achieve this is to integrate the National identity Numbers (NIN) into the data collection of both new and existing customers,” the lawmaker said.
While adopting the motion, the House mandated its committee on Governmental Affairs to ensure compliance.
