Business

MPs criticise lottery operator Camelot over problem gambling

A cross-party group of MPs has called for ministers to consider action against the national lottery operator, Camelot, arguing a move towards app-based games rather than traditional draws risks worsening problem gambling and reducing the amounts given to good causes.

The move from Conservative and Labour MPs comes after Camelot’s most recent results showed that two-thirds of sales growth in 2020 and 2021 came through so-called instant win games, primarily online, a process in part caused by Covid lockdowns. Overall, mobile sales rose from £1.606bn in 2020 to £2.482bn in 2021.

Ministers have previously expressed concern that the lottery’s shift towards more online games could become “a gateway to problem gambling”, with the minimum age for taking part increased this year from 16 to 18.

The MPs said that 9% of proceeds of instant win games, comprising scratchcards as well as online games, go to community causes, against 31% of draw-based game sales. They said the proportion of overall sales contributed had fallen from 28% in 2012-13 to 21% in 2020-21.

Camelot, which is bidding to keep the lottery licence it has held since it began in 1994 beyond 2023, rejects the criticism, saying the growth of online sales also includes traditional draws bought via the app, and is part of a wider shift in gambling patterns. It also notes that overall sums given to good causes have continued to increase, and argues its record on problem gambling is good.

But Alexander Stafford, the Conservative MP for Rother Valley and one of seven “red wall” Tories who have previously warned about Camelot’s business model, said it was “time to get someone in who can run the national lottery properly and who can be more true to its founding values”.

He said: “People trust the national lottery as a brand and want to get behind its charitable mission statement. But these controversial instant win games are herding people towards a more dangerous form of gambling, putting vulnerable people at risk.”

Camelot’s annual report, released in June, hailed the growth in app-based sales due to a new home screen “with personalisation, leveraging machine learning to serve more relevant games to players based on their play behaviour”, noting also “increased traffic to the digital channels due to Covid-19”.

Carolyn Harris, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party group on gambling-related harms, said ministers should intervene to change Camelot’s approach.

She said: “This beggars belief, particularly in a year when many people have struggled and charities are crying out for funding. That so little money from the lottery is going to charity is sickening and the government must see to it that this cannot happen again.”

A Camelot spokesperson said app-based games had existed since 2015, with sales growing in line with wider trends, and that app-based gaming had increased generally amid the pandemic restrictions, given that fewer people went to shops.

They said: “By giving people a choice of safe and enjoyable games that they want to play, by making those games attractive and generous to players, and by enabling people to play in ways that suit them best, we’re generating record monetary returns to good causes from ticket sales, record prize money to players and record payments in lottery duty to the Treasury – all in a responsible way.”

The Gambling Commission, which regulates the lottery, argues that app-based games need a higher return of prizes than draws to attract players, and that it was more important that the overall sum given to good causes was increasing. It says it is satisfied that Camelot’s games are comparatively low risk.

The Canadian-owned Camelot faces competition from three other would-be lottery operators to take over the licence from 2023: the Czech-owned Sazka Group, which runs lotteries in its home country as well as Greece, Italy and Austria; the former Daily Express owner Richard Desmond; and Sisal, which has operations in its native Italy as well as Spain, Morocco and Turkey.

Business

FAAC: FG, States, LGAs share N1.681tr in April

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total sum of N1.681 trillion, being April 2025 Federation Account Revenue to the Federal, States and the Local Governments at the May 2025 meeting held in Abuja.

The N1.681 trillion total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N962.882 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N598.077 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N38.862 billion and Exchange Difference N81.407 billion.

A communiqué issued by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) indicated that total gross revenue of N2,848.721 trillion was available in the month of April 2025.

Total deduction for cost of collection was N101.051 billion while total transfers, interventions, refunds and savings was N1066.442 billion.

According to the communiqué, gross statutory revenue of N2,084.568 trillion was received for the month of April 2025.

This was higher than the sum of N1,718.973 trillion received in the month of March 2025 by N365.595 billion.

Gross revenue of N642.265 billion was available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) in April 2025. This was higher than the N637.618 billion available in the month of March 2025 by N4.647 billion.

The communiqué stated that from the N1,681. 228 trillion total distributable revenue, the Federal Government received total sum of N565.307 billion and the State Governments received total sum of N556.741 billion.

The Local government Council received N406.627 billion, while the sum of N152.553 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting State as derivation revenue.

On the N962.882 billion distributable statutory revenue, the communiqué stated that the Federal Government received N431.307 billion and the State Governments received N218.765 billion.

The Local Government Councils received N168.659 billion and the sum of N144. 151 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting States as derivation revenue.

From the N598.077 billion distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue, the Federal Government received N89.712 billion, the State Governments received N299.039 billion and the Local Government Councils received N209.327 billion.

A total sum of N5.829 billion was received by the Federal Government from the N38.862 billion Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL).

The State Governments received N19.431 billion and the Local Government Councils received N13.602 billion.

From the N81.407 billion Exchange Difference, the communiqué stated that the Federal Government received N38.459 billion and the State Governments received N19.507 billion.

The Local Government Councils received N15.039 billion, while the sum of N8.402 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting States as derivation revenue.

Bawa Mokwa Director (Press and Public Relations) said in April 2025, Petroleum Profit Tax(PPT), Oil and Gas Royalty, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), Value Added Tax (VAT), Excise Duty, Import Duty and CET Levies increased significantly while Companies Income Tax (CIT) decreased considerably.

Business

‘We Will Keep Crashing Rice Prices,’ BUA Chairman Rabiu Warns Hoarders

The Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, has pledged to further lower the prices of rice and other food items, which he said have already decreased over the past year.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for granting waiver on imported food items, saying that his “foresight” helped crash food prices in the country.

In July 2024, the Tinubu administration announced the suspension of customs duties on imported food items to stem food inflation.

Speaking to State House Correspondents after meeting with President Tinubu on Thursday, Rabiu said BUA Foods keyed into that policy and was able to import quite a lot of wheat, maize and rice.

“And the moment the shipment started coming, we started processing, we crushed the prices of some of these commodities. And today I’m happy to inform you that the price of rice is about N60,000 from what it was last year at N110,000. Flour is today N55,000 Naira per 50 kilo bag.

“Maize is about N30,000. And this happened because of Mr President’s foresight and vision by introducing that one-off duty waiver for a period of six months, and with that, we’ve been able to bring down the prices of these commodities,” Rabiu said.

The billionaire businessman further explained the causes of the food price increases and how the President’s policy helped to curb the trend.

“So, what has been happening and a lot of people probably don’t know this, is that Nigerians, a lot of companies in Nigeria usually buy a lot of paddy. That is rice paddy. Rice Paddy is what you use to process rice. So, the moment the harvest season starts, a lot of people will now buy a lot of these paddy and hold it for a period of three to four months. The moment the season finishes, then the price will double. So a lot of people don’t know that, but that has always been the problem.

“That does not really in any way affect the farmer, because the farmer is getting his four to N500,000 per ton of paddy. But the people that are buying and holding for three to four months, once the season finishes, it goes back up to N800,000. Hence why you are getting N110,000 per bag.
“So, what that intervention did at the time when we brought in was to create an issue for those hoarders. Because the moment we imported, we were selling, and those orders had a lot of paddy, they could not sell, and the price now came down, and it is still down.
So a lot of those holders are actually crying now and losing money.”

He said that the Rice Millers Association has come together to address the issue of hoarding by some companies, adding that the association will not allow any of its members to hoard rice.

“What we are doing as rice Millers is that we want to ensure that rice Millers are not buying and hoarding Paddy, although at the end of the day, it’s quite difficult to stop that. But what is happening is that once they know that there is rice availability imported, because BUA has imported enough rice to last us until the end of the year, for example.

“So, they know that if they try to hot rice and try to take it up, Bucha is there and will crash the price. So I am hopeful that at the end of the day, the price of rice going forward is not going to go any higher than what it is today.

“And I’m sure as soon as the season starts, the farmers will get the price they’ve always gotten, and the price of rice is going to stay the same, because people will be wary of hoarding, because if they hoard it is going to be a problem for them, because they might lose money. So that is on rice.

“And again, let me use this opportunity to thank His Excellency, for his foresight, for his vision, because I actually didn’t see that. I didn’t know that that was going to work, but we keyed in. We imported and we have supported, and now prices are down. So that is what we did, and we will continue to do to support the efforts of the government to ensure that food prices continue to come down. And I’m sure prices will come down.

“It is quite interesting that when prices were quite high, N100,000 everybody was shouting, now that prices are down or are coming down, it is like, nobody is coming out to say, look, food prices are coming down, but I’m happy to say that food prices are coming down, and they will continue to come down. That is what BUA foods is doing to support the efforts of the government in ensuring that food prices are down,” Rabiu said

Business

Fuel scarcity looms as IPMAN issues 21-day notice

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has called on Gov. Chukwuma Soludo to protect operations of marketers in the state from the plague of multiple taxes and harassment by different agents.

IPMAN which made the call at an emergency general meeting with members in Awka on Wednesday issued a 21-working days notice to shutdown operations if the grouses were not addressed.

The ultimatum was a unanimous decision of the no fewer than 700 marketers in attendance.

The meeting was presided over by Mr Chinedu Anyaso, Chairman of IPMAN Enugu Community Depot and members of his executive and Chief Linus Mgbakaogu, a national ex officio.

The marketers said they had an agreement of harmonised revenue agreement approved by Soludo and had been keeping their part of the bargain by paying as and when due.

They expressed dismay that some local government officials and agencies were coming up with different type of demand notices, arresting members and extorting money from them.

Anyaso said members were asked by the House of Assembly to produce some operational documents but IPMAN was of the position that only the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency had such powers under the Petroleum Industry Act.

According to him, marketers agreed on annual fees/levies of N120,000 with the Anambra government which Gov. Soludo approved and we had been complying fully with the terms.

“But now we have different demand notices general purpose fee, Land Use Charge, fire, Signage, waste management and worse if it is that Local Government Councils are arresting and extorting our members under different guise.

“We are appealing to Gov. Soludo to protect our members in Anambra, we have an existing agreement, if that is no longer applicable they should sit with us for renegotiation, that is why we are asking that this harassment and extortion should be addressed.

“So we are giving a 21 days strike notice within which the state government, Local government and marketers would meet for discussion on revenue and we expect that all court cases are withdrawn and all arrested members freed,” he said.

Anyaso also called on the Federal Government to address the issue of unpaid bridge claims by members in the zube and pay them so they could remain in business.

Also Chief Linus Mgbakaogu, a national ex officio of IPMAN described the business environment for members in Anambra as hostile.

According to him, the agreement we reached with other states as we did with Anambra is still subsisting but I do not know why the governor’s order is being disregarded by various agents of state.

“Mr Governor is our person, the buck stops on his table and we expect that he should protect us,” he said.

In his speech, Mr Greg Ezeilo, Chairman of the Anambra Internal Revenue Service, blamed the misunderstanding on Local Government chairmen, who wished to assert their autonomy but promised to intervene and ensure that the areas of concern were addressed.

Ezeilo said Soludo was keen on improving Ease of Business in Anambra and would not condone anything that would jeopardise businesses.

“I will create environment for, constructive dialogue is held, I am aware you are open to negotiation and I will tell them to come to negotiate with you.