Kenya President signs bill lifting 20% excise tax imposed on betting companies. The amendment of this finance bill will take place in the next six months

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta had previously?called upon the country’s lawmakers to ban sports betting in the country and has now signed the Amendment of the finance bill?2020?lifting?the?20 percent?excise tax?imposed?on betting companies in the next six months.?

Treasury Cabinet Secretary?Ukur?Yatani?said?“The players in the industry have been petitioning the government to reduce taxation in the industry,”?

“The removal of this tax happened during the committee stage of the bill. The National Treasury will be proposing to the National Assembly the re-introduction of the excise duty on betting within the next six months” he added.?

Betting firms had?stated that the taxes in the industry?played?a major factor?to the closures of betting companies in Kenya, including?SportPesa?and?Betin, two of the country’s largest sports betting companies which have halted business operations in the?country.?However,?international players?continue to operate.?

SportPesa?had previously stated that?it will no longer operate in Kenya until a “non-hostile regulatory environment is returned.”?The?decision is said to have cost the government?billions in revenue collections in form of tax?and their withdrawal resulted in 400 job losses and cancellation of local sports sponsorships. The company?made a profit after tax of almost Sh1.6 billion in 2018, according to its financial statements.?

The?dismissal?of the excise duty tax has coincided with restructuring of ownership at?SportPesa?raising speculation?about the company’s return.?

Kenya?remains the third?largest online betting market in Africa, behind South Africa and Nigeria,?that culminated the expansion?of?mobile payments and digital applications?in the country.?East Africa is No. 1 in the global market, which is mainly due to?Kenya?the number where mobile money subscriptions rose to 29.1 million by the end of March.?

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