Nigeria confirms Stake is operating illegally and warns PSPs, ad platforms, and banks

Lagos State’s gaming regulator, LSLGA, has declared Stake an illegal operator in Nigeria and ordered it to stop operating. The Federation of State Gaming Regulators of Nigeria, FGSRN, added that the company holds no licence in any of the country’s 24 states, which is the part that matters for anyone touching payments, advertising, or banking for the brand.

1. LSLGA said Stake did not declare or pay monthly gaming taxes and fees, and that the operator received 10 formal notices over the past two years. In other words, this is not a one-off warning letter that got lost in a compliance inbox.
2. FGSRN confirmed Stake has no licence from any of Nigeria’s 24 state regulators. For PSPs and acquirers, that removes the usual comfort blanket of “licensed somewhere in the market” and turns the question into plain-old local authorisation.
3. Both bodies said they will now take enforcement action against Stake, its directors, and any third parties facilitating its activity, including payment companies, advertising platforms, and financial institutions. That is the line high-risk payment teams should read twice.
4. The practical implication is straightforward: if a payments stack is processing for Stake in Nigeria, the exposure is no longer limited to the merchant. The regulator has explicitly named the infrastructure layer too.