The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into the gaming industry is creating opportunities for innovation while simultaneously raising difficult questions around regulation, data protection, intellectual property, player protection and accountability.
These issues took center stage on October 7, 2026, as legal practitioners, regulators and gaming-industry professionals gathered in Lagos for a one-day roundtable organized by Babalakin & Co.’s Intellectual Property and Data Privacy Practice.
Held under the theme “Artificial Intelligence & the Gaming Industry: The Odds, the Automation and the Ownership,” the roundtable examined how emerging technologies are reshaping Nigeria’s gaming ecosystem and the legal and regulatory frameworks that must evolve alongside them.
Babalakin & Co. Legal Practitioners is a Nigerian law firm with established expertise across several areas of commercial law, including intellectual property, data privacy, technology and regulatory matters. Its IP and Data Privacy Practice convened the roundtable as a platform for meaningful engagement between the legal profession, regulators and industry stakeholders at a time when technological development is increasingly challenging traditional regulatory approaches.
From the outset, the event reflected a professional but welcoming environment. The organizers created an atmosphere that allowed participants to engage openly with speakers, ask questions and explore issues that affect the future of the gaming industry.
The firm’s hospitality and attention to participants also stood out throughout the programme, reinforcing the importance of creating professional spaces where industry stakeholders can exchange ideas beyond formal regulatory discussions. More importantly, the roundtable demonstrated the value of bringing lawyers, regulators and gaming professionals into the same room to discuss emerging technologies before regulatory challenges become larger industry problems.
Among the key voices at the roundtable was Seyi Oni, Head of Legal and Compliance at KingMakers, who brought more than two decades of experience across technology, corporate governance, licensing and digital gaming. His participation provided an industry perspective on the practical challenges of operating within an increasingly technology-driven and highly regulated gaming environment.
Also featured was Ibukunoluwa Owa (FIP, CIPP/E, CIPM, CDPO), Head of the Regulations Unit at the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC). Mrs. Owa brings extensive experience in data protection and legal practice and has played a significant role in Nigeria’s evolving data protection framework. Her involvement in Nigeria’s data-protection regulatory development provided an important perspective on how businesses should approach the use of personal data in an increasingly AI-driven environment.
Bashir Abiola-Are, Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LSLGA), was also listed among the featured speakers but was unable to attend personally. Representing him at the roundtable was Mrs. Adetoun Julianah Adeyemi, Board Secretary and Legal Adviser at the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LSLGA).
Mrs. Adetoun brought the authority’s regulatory and legal perspective to the discussion, particularly on how regulators must evolve alongside rapid technological advancement within the gaming industry.
One of the central messages from the discussion was that regulation cannot remain static while technology continues to advance. Artificial intelligence is already being applied across different areas of the gaming ecosystem, including player analytics, fraud detection, customer engagement, risk management and responsible-gaming systems.
For regulators, however, the challenge is finding the right balance. Overly restrictive regulation could potentially slow innovation and industry growth, while insufficient oversight could expose players and operators to significant risks. The discussion therefore highlighted the importance of technology-enabled regulation capable of protecting consumers while allowing legitimate gaming businesses to innovate.
A significant part of the conversation focused on using technology to strengthen player protection. Industry experts emphasized that regulators should increasingly move from reactive enforcement towards proactive, technology-driven oversight. One proposal discussed was the use of API-based transaction monitoring as a mandatory, formal pre-licensing requirement for gaming operators.
Such systems could give regulators greater visibility into transactions and potential risks while allowing monitoring to take place without unnecessarily disrupting the customer experience. The broader argument was that if technology can identify risks earlier, regulators should be able to use that same technology to intervene before those risks develop into larger consumer-protection problems.
At the same time, the panel stressed the importance of using non-intrusive technology to enforce responsible-gaming and data-protection standards. The objective is to create strong consumer safeguards without establishing unnecessary compliance barriers that could restrict legitimate industry growth.
Representing the LSLGA, Mrs. Adetoun Julianah Adeyemi discussed the need for gaming regulation to evolve alongside technological development. Her contribution focused on the balance between innovation and consumer protection, particularly as AI and automation become increasingly integrated into gaming operations.
The discussion touched on the potential role of technology in areas such as responsible gaming, underage-gambling prevention and fraud detection. The LSLGA perspective also emphasized the importance of licensing and compliance as gaming platforms become increasingly digital and technology-driven.
The authority’s approach reflects the growing need for regulators to understand not only the activities of gaming operators but also the technology and infrastructure supporting their platforms. Intellectual property was another major issue at the heart of the roundtable. The increasing use of generative AI raises fundamental questions about ownership. When an operator uses AI to create software, marketing material, images, content or other digital assets, who owns the resulting work?
Where human creativity, third-party platforms and automated systems overlap, what rights can legally be claimed? These questions become increasingly important for gaming companies that rely heavily on technology and digital content. The discussion highlighted the need for businesses to understand the legal implications of using AI-generated materials rather than assuming that everything produced through an AI platform automatically belongs to the person or company using it.
The expansion of AI within gaming also brings data protection concerns to the forefront. Gaming operators handle significant amounts of information about their customers, including information that can be used to understand behaviour, preferences and transaction patterns.
As algorithms become more sophisticated, the ability to analyse and act on this information increases. This creates an important responsibility for operators to ensure that data is collected, processed and used within the applicable legal and regulatory framework.
For regulators, the challenge is equally significant: how can they encourage technological innovation while ensuring that consumers retain meaningful protection over their personal information? The roundtable made clear that data protection cannot be treated as a secondary compliance issue as AI becomes more deeply integrated into gaming.
Transparency in algorithmic decision-making also emerged as an important concern, particularly amid perceptions that the gambling industry can be difficult to understand for newcomers and those seeking to enter the sector. Greater transparency around how betting companies use algorithms to influence player behaviour, alongside a clearer understanding of regulators’ responsibilities in overseeing these systems, was identified as an area requiring further attention.
The issue extends beyond disclosing how technology works. It raises broader questions about whether players, regulators and legitimate industry participants have sufficient visibility into the systems that increasingly shape the gambling experience. As AI becomes more influential in determining how gaming platforms engage with customers, transparency will be essential to building trust, supporting informed participation and strengthening accountability across the industry.
The discussion acknowledged that transparency remains an evolving area and that further work is needed to determine how it can be improved. Although no definitive solution was established, the conversation highlighted an important reality: the regulatory framework surrounding AI, algorithms and transparency is still developing.
That may ultimately become one of the most important areas for regulators and operators to address as AI adoption accelerates. The discussions at the roundtable reflected a gaming industry standing at an important crossroads. Technology is developing rapidly, while legislation and regulatory frameworks often require considerably more time to develop, consult on and implement.
The challenge for Nigeria will therefore be to create a regulatory environment that does not simply react to technological change but anticipates it. For operators, this means understanding that technological innovation comes with responsibilities around data protection, responsible gaming, transparency, licensing and consumer protection.
For regulators, it means developing the technical knowledge and regulatory tools necessary to supervise increasingly sophisticated systems. For legal practitioners, it means helping businesses navigate an environment where traditional legal principles are increasingly being tested by artificial intelligence and automation.
The Babalakin & Co. roundtable ultimately demonstrated why conversations between the legal, regulatory and gaming communities are becoming increasingly important. AI is no longer a distant concept for the gaming industry. It is becoming part of the infrastructure through which operators understand customers, detect risks, manage businesses and deliver services.
The question now is not whether AI will influence the industry, but how that influence will be governed. As Nigeria’s gaming market continues to evolve, the success of that transition will depend on whether innovation can be matched with responsible regulation, meaningful transparency, strong data protection and effective player safeguards.
The roundtable provided an important platform for that conversation and, perhaps more importantly, showed that some of the most difficult questions facing the industry still require further dialogue between regulators, lawyers, technology experts and operators. By bringing these perspectives together, Babalakin & Co.’s IP and Data Privacy Practice created a timely space for the industry to examine not only what AI can do, but also what it should be allowed to do within a responsible and properly regulated gaming ecosystem.
