Lagos State has classified Stake.com as an illegal gambling operator and ordered unlicensed platforms serving residents to suspend their activities or get state authorization. The Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority lists Stake among more than 40 gambling companies operating without licenses required under the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority Law 2021.
Stake shows up on the LSLGA register under Medium Rare N.V., the Curaçao company behind Stake.com. Section 33(3) of the Lagos gambling law prohibits anyone without a current state license or authorization from running gaming activities, and the regulator treats companies on the list as illegal or unlicensed operators. Bet365 and crypto casino Rainbet are among the other international brands on it.
A July enforcement notice from the LSLGA told all unlicensed sportsbooks, casinos, lotteries, and other gaming platforms serving Lagos residents to stop non-compliant activity immediately. Companies that keep going face recovery of unpaid levies, court injunctions, and prosecution, while operators wanting to stay in the market have been directed to register and comply with the state licensing system.
Lagos courts have backed the regulator’s authority over online companies based outside the state. Recent rulings cited by the LSLGA found that accepting wagers from Lagos residents is enough to establish regulatory jurisdiction, no matter where an operator keeps its servers or administrative offices. Courts ordered several unlicensed businesses to regularize their operations, pay outstanding fees, or stop serving the market.
Stake doesn’t list any Nigerian authorization among the licenses published on its website. Medium Rare N.V. runs Stake.com under Curaçao Gaming Authority license OGL/2024/1451/0918, with separate locally regulated Stake operations listed for Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. A Curaçao license doesn’t override what Lagos requires of gambling offered to its residents.
Nigeria’s Supreme Court fundamentally rewrote the country’s gambling regulatory system in November 2024 by nullifying the National Lottery Act outside the Federal Capital Territory. The seven-member court unanimously found that the National Assembly holds no constitutional authority to regulate lotteries and games of chance across the states, leaving those powers with individual state legislatures.
That ruling is what allows Lagos to go after remote gambling companies directly under its own legislation rather than through a federal gambling license. The LSLGA said in July that operators servicing Lagos residents have to meet state licensing, registration, tax, and technical requirements, regardless of any federal approvals they previously relied on or where their infrastructure sits.
Stake’s place on the illegal-operator list doesn’t amount to a nationwide Nigerian prohibition. The restriction applies in Lagos, while other Nigerian states control gambling inside their own jurisdictions following the Supreme Court decision. What Lagos has made explicit, though, is that Stake cannot legally take wagers from residents without the state authorization it currently doesn’t have.