The Senate has threatened to shut down sports betting company, Bet9ja offices if it failed to honour its invitation for a second time.
The lawmakers issued the threat on Tuesday in Abuja during the verification of Loto companies with license to operate in Nigeria.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Youth and Sport, Senator Obinna Ogba, PDP, Ebonyi, noted that it was unfortunate that Bet9a refused to honour their invitation.
He said, “Clerk, write to Bet9ja again. If they did not honour your our invitation again, we will ask the National Lottery Commission to seal their offices.”
Senator Ogba further stated that the Senate was making efforts to assist the lottery commission to generate money for the federal government, saying, “We wanted to see bet9ja. They can’t runaway.”
Senator Ogba said that their verification followed a series of complaints against the betting companies.
He added that some do not even have offices while others have not been making remittances to the government.
According to the lawmaker, while verifying, about 20 betting companies that honoured Senate invitation, “some got the licenses but they are not operating. The new regulation only gives them one year to start operations.”
