NOTAP Registration for Gaming Operators: What Has Changed in the 2025 Guidelines
NOTAP Registration for Gaming Operators: What Has Changed in the 2025 Guidelines
A Commercially Aware Guide for Operators in the Nigerian Gaming Sector
The Regulatory Landscape Has Shifted – Are You Compliant?
If you are a gaming operator deploying any foreign software or technology in Nigeria, whether for sports betting, lottery, casino, or virtual gaming, you are almost certainly required to register that arrangement with the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). The question is not whether this obligation exists. It does. The more pressing in 2026, is whether your current agreements and operational structures actually satisfy the detailed requirements that NOTAP published in its July 2025 Guidelines for the Registration of Gaming Technology Transfer Agreements.
Who Must Register and What Must Be Registered?
Any Nigerian gaming enterprise that acquires foreign technology, software, or services under a licence or service agreement must register that agreement with NOTAP. This obligation is independent of the operator’s registration with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) or any state gaming authority. The two regulatory frameworks operate side by side, and compliance with one does not excuse non-compliance with the other.
The 2025 Guidelines cast a wide net. They cover lottery technology and services, sports betting technology and services, casino technology and services, virtual game technology and services, and a residual category of others. In practical terms, this means that if your Random Number Generator, your betting engine, your CRM platform, or your risk management software is supplied by a foreign entity under any kind of licence or managed service arrangement, that agreement is registrable. Operators who have convinced themselves that a cloud-based SaaS subscription is not a “technology transfer” should revisit that position, the Guidelines address cloud-based deployments specifically as well.
The Local Content Obligation Is Not Optional
The single most commercially significant requirement in the 2025 Guidelines and the one most likely to disrupt existing contractual arrangements is the mandatory local vendor and capacity building obligation. Every technology transfer agreement must include a provision for capacity building, with details of the Nigerian professionals who will understudy the foreign experts. This is not a box-ticking exercise. NOTAP expects to see the actual names and profiles of those understudies, and the structure of the knowledge transfer programme.
On maintenance and technical support, the position is clear: local vendors must be involved, and they must receive a minimum of 40% of the Annual Technical Support (ATS) fee, paid in Naira. For cloud-based deployments, which now dominate the market, the Guidelines require the engagement of an accredited local support company that will provide first-line technical support, act as liaison to the foreign provider, train local staff on software use, and report periodically to NOTAP on utilisation. If your current agreement channels 100% of annual support fees to your foreign licensor with no meaningful Nigerian involvement, you have a structural compliance problem that needs to be corrected before your next registration or renewal.
Tax Compliance Is Baked into the Registration Process
NOTAP will not register an agreement that does not make provision for the deduction of applicable Nigerian taxes, specifically withholding tax and VAT on technology fees payable to a foreign licensor. This alignment between NOTAP registration and tax compliance is deliberate. It means that operators cannot use foreign licensing structures to avoid their Nigerian tax obligations. If your agreement is silent on tax deductions or purports to gross up payments to the foreign licensor net of tax, you will need to revise those provisions before NOTAP approves the registration.
Fee Structures and What NOTAP Will Approve
The 2025 Guidelines introduce a structured fee approval framework with two models. The scaling or sliding model applies a fee range of 0.5% to 5% of net sales and is the model most relevant to mainstream gaming operators whose technology fees are calculated by reference to revenue. The flat-rate or lump-sum model applies where fees are fixed regardless of performance. Understanding which model applies to your agreement and whether the fee levels are within the approvable range is essential before you submit, because agreements outside the approved bands will be queried or rejected.
Governing Law and Arbitration – A Point Often Missed
Standard foreign licence agreements almost invariably specify the governing law of the licensor’s home jurisdiction and provide for arbitration in London, Singapore, or Paris. NOTAP’s 2025 Guidelines require that all agreements be governed by Nigerian law, with the seat of arbitration in Nigeria, or at minimum by the law of a neutral country that is not the licensor’s home jurisdiction. This is a negotiating point that most operators have not won against their foreign technology suppliers, but it is now a NOTAP registration requirement. The practical solution for many operators will be to include a Nigerian law-governed addendum to their master agreement that satisfies NOTAP’s requirements while preserving the broader commercial terms.
The Documentary Checklist – Do Not Arrive Without These
NOTAP’s documentary requirements are extensive. Beyond the registered agreement itself, operators must submit evidence of NLRC or state regulatory agency registration, a SCUML Certificate, results of the SCUML audit, the invoice for payment of the technology fee, and evidence of appointment of a local IT vendor. The SCUML requirements are often the item that catches operators off guard because gaming operators are classified as Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) under Nigeria’s anti-money laundering framework, and SCUML registration and audit compliance is a legal obligation that exists independently of your NOTAP filing. If you are not already SCUML-compliant, address this.
Post-Registration: NOTAP’s Monitoring Powers
Operators should note that NOTAP retains the right to conduct pre-approval and post-approval monitoring visits at its discretion. Registration is not a one-time event. The 2025 Guidelines create an ongoing compliance relationship between the operator and NOTAP. Agreements that are registered on paper but not implemented in practice, particularly as regards local vendor payments and capacity building, are exposed to regulatory scrutiny.
What Should Operators Do Now?
The 2025 Guidelines create real compliance obligations with real commercial consequences for non-compliance, including the inability to remit technology fees abroad through legitimate banking channels. Operators should audit their existing technology agreements against the Guidelines, identify gaps in local vendor engagement, tax provisioning, and governing law.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Operators should seek specific legal counsel in relation to their individual circumstances.
AUTHOR
Treasure Yewande Adedigba
Associate – Hamu Legal
