The Central Bank of Nigeria has instructed commercial banks to permit betting and gaming companies suspended earlier in the month make limited withdrawals from their accounts to pay for winnings, salaries and other overhead expenses.
The instruction was contained in a letter addressed to one of the banks obtained by Checkout Magazine.
Recall that Checkout Magazine reported that the central bank instructed banks to post a no debit on account of 38 companies some of which included betting and gaming companies for violating its foreign exchange regulations, freezing their accounts.
The memo reads in part, “You will recall at the meeting held by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with your bank and stakeholders of seven (7) betting and gaming companies on September 11 2020, you pleaded for clemency processing some transactions in violation of the extant foreign exchange regulations. Similarly, the betting and gaming companies intreated the Governor to allow them discharge operational expenses.”
“Consequently, the Management of CBN has magnanimously granted your bank the approval to honour instruments presented by the companies for payment of winnings, salaries and other overhead expenses.”
Despite the partial lifting on the ban, the CBN still maintained a “Post No Debit restriction on the account and ordered that “no other transactions should be processed for any of the companies during the period of the waiver” effectively restricting the owners of the companies from accessing to pay capital obligations.
