Bank transfer is the dominant rail (Flutterwave, Paystack, Interswitch), with mobile money (OPay, PalmPay), USSD banking and agent cash deposit/withdrawal widely used; debit cards (Visa, Mastercard) are accepted. MCC 7995 treatment by banks is not confirmed. Crypto payments are regulated for gambling. CBN VASP banking guidelines (2023-12-22) apply only to SEC-licensed VASPs. - Crypto and gaming: the regulatory perimeter is becoming clearer. The formalisation of Nigeria’s virtual-asset sector is another development that gaming businesses should not overlook. On 18 July 2026, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination 2026. The Order established a Virtual Asset Council chaired by the CBN, with the Nigeria Revenue Service and SEC as Vice-Chairs, alongside the NFIU and ONSA. It also established a Virtual Asset Office to coordinate applications, reporting and information sharing. - Importantly, the framework does not create a new omnibus crypto regulator. Instead, it coordinates existing institutional mandates. The State House explained that securities-related virtual-asset activities will remain within the SEC’s remit, while payment, settlement, custody and related services involving non-security virtual assets will be registered through the CBN framework, with the coordinating Council addressing areas of uncertainty. - For the gaming industry, this is highly relevant. Crypto-enabled gaming products, deposits, withdrawals, wallets, tokenised rewards and blockchain-based gaming platforms can sit at the intersection of gaming regulation and financial regulation. An operator cannot assume that a gaming licence alone authorises it to provide regulated virtual-asset or payment services. - The emergence of a coordinated virtual-asset framework also reinforces the need for stronger AML, KYC, transaction monitoring and source-of-funds controls. The regulatory direction is towards formalisation rather than regulatory vacuum. - Accordingly, operators considering crypto-enabled gaming should ask, at an early stage: - Is the proposed digital asset a security or another form of virtual asset? - Does the business provide custody, payment, settlement or exchange-related services? - Which entity in the group will perform the regulated activity? - What CBN, SEC, NFIU and tax obligations may arise? - How will crypto transactions be integrated into gaming AML/KYC controls? - How will customer funds and winnings be segregated, recorded and reported? The new framework also creates a broader policy signal: Nigeria is moving towards formal recognition and coordinated supervision of the crypto sector rather than treating digital assets as an unregulated parallel financial system. Gaming businesses operating at the intersection of the two sectors will need to adapt accordingly The DNFBP AML regime under MLPPA 2022 includes casinos, requires SCUML registration, and mandates STRs to the NFIU within 24 hours, with CTR and CBTR thresholds. A CBN PSP licence is required for payment processors.
Nigeria · Question 06 of 11
Payments and banking: Can we move player money?
Mixed · Probable · Expert approved · 1 post-review update · Not reviewed · In expert review scope · Back to full Nigeria report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Nigeria (NG) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Mixed |
| Confidence | Probable |
| Review status | Expert approved · 1 post-review update · Not reviewed · In expert review scope |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Bank transfer is the dominant rail (Flutterwave, Paystack, Interswitch), with mobile money (OPay, PalmPay), USSD banking and agent cash deposit/withdrawal widely used; debit cards (Visa, Mastercard) are accepted. MCC 7995 treatment by banks is not confirmed. Crypto payments are regulated for gambl…
LSLGA's October 2026 Public Notice names payment channels among the facilitating intermediaries now subject to a thirty-day licence-verification duty in Lagos State, extending the compliance burden into the payments chain alongside telecoms and VAS providers. Payment channels facilitating gambling transactions for operators without a subsisting LSLGA licence must verify operator licensing status and suspend facilitation where that status cannot be confirmed, under the same section 33(3) statutory basis that applies to telecoms intermediaries. This brings payment-processing relationships with gaming operators into the same compliance window and enforcement exposure as carrier-billing and VAS-aggregated distribution channels, with statutory enforcement notices expected from LSLGA on expiry of the window in mid-November 2026.