Nigerian Bookmakers and African iGaming Alliance Sign Cooperation Agreement

The Association of Nigerian Bookmakers and the African iGaming Alliance have signed a new cooperation agreement covering responsible gaming, regulation, taxation, compliance and the fight against illegal gambling in Nigeria and across Africa.

The Association of Nigerian Bookmakers (ANB) and the African iGaming Alliance (AiA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening cooperation between Nigeria's regulated betting industry and the wider African gaming sector.

The agreement was signed in Lagos on September 4 by ANB Executive Secretary Gift Tuadibofa and Olabimpe Akingba, an AiA board member and Head of Responsible Gaming at PawaTech.

ANB represents licensed sports betting and gaming operators in Nigeria, while AiA operates as a Pan-African industry association focused on the development of regulated gambling markets. Their new partnership is intended to create a formal channel for sharing experience and coordinating positions on issues that increasingly affect operators across multiple African jurisdictions.

The areas covered by the MoU include responsible and safer gaming, player protection, regulatory policy, taxation, compliance, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing. The organisations also plan to cooperate on tackling illegal and unlicensed gambling, protecting market integrity and supporting research, knowledge sharing and professional capacity building.

Responsible gambling is expected to be one of the central areas of cooperation. The agreement was signed shortly before the inaugural Africa Safer Gambling Week, held from September 7 to 11 under the #PlaySafeAfrica campaign and involving regulators and industry organisations from several African markets.

The partnership could also give Nigerian operators a stronger role in wider continental regulatory discussions. As online betting becomes increasingly cross-border, issues such as illegal operators, payment monitoring, player protection and advertising are becoming harder to address within individual national markets alone.

The MoU does not itself change Nigeria's licensing or tax rules. Instead, it establishes a framework through which ANB and AiA can develop joint initiatives, exchange best practices and engage with regulators, governments and other industry stakeholders.

The agreement will initially run for one year and can be renewed by mutual consent. Its practical importance will therefore depend on the projects that follow, but the partnership reflects a broader trend towards greater coordination between national gambling associations and Pan-African industry bodies as regulation across the continent continues to develop.