Kenya’s proposed sports betting tax up again, down again

The drawn out indecision on a betting, lotteries and gaming tax has hit the skids again as Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, has rejected Kenya’s Finance Bill 2017 and recommended that Parliament set gaming taxes at 35 per cent.

Earlier this month, the Kenya Parliament rejected a prohibitive 50 percent tax which when revisited was widely expected to be proposed at 35 percent. Following in-fighting, however, the Finance Bill 2017 was signed off with the 2016 level left unchanged at 7.5 percent on gross profits (see previous  reports).

According to Kenyan press, President Kenyatta rejected the bill because a clause aimed at discouraging the youth from betting was removed from the text.

“The purpose of Amendment of Section 59 B of Cap 469 was to discourage Kenyans, and especially the youth, in directing their focus on betting, lottery and gaming activities instead of productive economic engagement, a vice that is likely to degenerate into a social disaster,” Kenyatta said. “This totally negates the spirit underlying the proposal to have the betting tax raised”.

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