Nigerian Tax Act 2025 exempts gambling and lottery stakes from VAT
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, explained that the reforms aim to tax actual profits rather than ordinary money transfers.
Nigeria.- The Nigerian Government has removed gambling and lottery stakes from the scope of value-added tax (VAT) under the newly enacted Nigerian Tax Act 2025. The Act, which was signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on June 26, 2025, took effect on January 1, 2026.
Section 185, subsection (m) of the Act lists “money, stakes or securities, including interests in money or securities” as items exempt from VAT. The law defines a stake as the amount placed on a game. This applies to all forms of gaming, including online slots, sports betting, video poker and lotteries linked to real or virtual events.
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, explained that the reforms aim to tax actual profits rather than ordinary money transfers. The exemption of stakes follows this approach and aligns with common VAT practice in other countries, where wagers are treated as fund transfers rather than taxable services.
Previously, some tax authorities and operators treated betting as a taxable service and applied VAT to stakes, which gave rise to disputes and court actions. The new Act clarifies the position by expressly excluding stakes from VAT.
Operators must now update their payment systems and accounting processes to ensure that VAT is not charged on wagers. They may, however, continue to charge the standard 7.5 per cent VAT on other items, such as platform fees, service charges or commissions.
