Is Lottery Gambling?

Peter: Samson, can the lottery be regarded as gambling?

Samson: Hmmm…🤔

Samson: I think so

Peter: Why do you say that?

Samson: I don’t know mehn, I think they are the same and I think they are different.

This is a question that has caused confusion for so many. But today, we are going to answer the question – is lottery gambling?

But before we dive straight into the topic let’s break things down, by first considering what really is gambling.

What is Gambling?

Gambling is taking part in a game during which you risk money, or something of monetary value, in order to win money or a prize. The outcome of the game is usually down to chance, so when gambling you might leave with less money than you started off with, and sometimes with nothing at all.

Gambling thus requires three elements to be present: consideration, risk, and a prize.

Now we understand what gambling is, let’s look at the gambling law in Nigeria.

The Gambling Law

Gambling can be made legal or illegal depending on the country. For example in Nigeria, Gambling is regulated by the National Lottery Regulatory Commission and has the top legal land-based casinos and lottery brands located in the two largest cities of Nigeria of which the biggest is located in Lagos.

The lottery was legalized with the National Lottery Act, 2005 and gambling is defined by Chapter 22 of the Criminal Code Act enacted in 1990.

The gambling law splits the games into two categories: The legal and illegal games. The legal games are lottery, land-based casino, and sports betting while Roulette, dice games, and non-skilled card games are illegal. The law regulates slot machine activity and only licensed operators can provide slot machine gambling.

Regarding the age, the gambling age is defined by the law. People below the age of 18 cannot legally gamble.

In Nigeria, all forms of legal games stated above can be played online and no Nigerian law mentions or restricts people from reaching local or foreign gambling sites however all types of online games are available except those that are illegal.

Is Lottery Really Gambling?

Yes, the lottery is gambling! From the definition of gambling, we see that it applies to lottery because lottery involves risking your money to win more cash prizes and we also can see from the gambling law that lottery, like the lottery in Nigeria, is regulated by the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) a lottery body and they have classified lottery as a Legal gambling game.

This also applies to other countries worldwide such as in the US.

So we now know that lottery is gambling and it can be legalized in any country willing to make it legal such as Nigeria, the USA, and a lot more.

Should the Lottery be illegal?

Now we have ascertained that the lottery is gambling, but the next question is should the lottery be illegal?

Well, that all depends on the country, lottery can lead to increased political corruption, compulsive gambling, and higher crime rates. Because of this, a country can make the lottery illegal.

While some lottery brands might use it as a form of money laundering, this could result in making lottery (lotto games) illegal in the country.

So it all depends on how well the country in question is able to regulate the gambling system in their country.