TheCable

The Kaduna Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS), on Thursday, sealed off offices used by some gaming companies for allegedly owing taxes and operating illegally in the state.

NAN reports that the affected companies are K. C. Gaming Networks Ltd. owners of bet9ja; Bet King; Access Bet; and Derby Lotto.

Zaid Abubakar, KADIRS executive chairman, told journalists at the end of the enforcement exercise that the companies did not register with the agency and were not licensed to operate in the state.

Abubakar added that the companies were also withholding taxes close to N500 million: K.C Gaming Networks N325 million, Bet King N68 million and Access bet N33 million.

He also said that the operators of the gaming companies were required by law to integrate their operations into the KADIRS software, but failed to do so.

According to him, the decision to seal off the offices is aimed at enforcing compliance with provisions of the law and strengthening revenue collection mechanisms in the state.

He explained that the Kaduna state tax codification and consolidation law has mandated gaming companies to register and obtain licenses before they operate in the state.

“Section 86 of the law mandated that any gaming company wishing to operate in the state shall upon payment of non-refundable N400,000 registration fee, apply in writing for an operating license,” he said.

“We have sent a series of letters to the owners of the companies, asking them to come forward and register in line with the requirements of the law, but failed to do so.

“We, therefore, decided to close down their offices and if they fail to come forward and regularised their operation within the next 14 days, we will prosecute them in accordance with the law.”

According to Abubakar, the gaming companies are mopping about N2 billion monthly from the state and were not paying a kobo to the state government as tax.