Currently licensed operators in Kenya have balked that the new tax is unworkable, saying it will drive them out of the market while deterring international operators from setting up shop in Kenya.<\/p>\n
“I know there is a big cry in the gaming industry because of the 50 percent tax,”Uhuru had said during the April town hall, “but we can sit down and engage with the affected parties.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But Uhuru would find that lowering the tax to 35 percent did not appease detractors of the new rate.<\/p>\n
Wanja Gikonyo, head of\u00a0Betway\u2019s Kenya division, told the local Star<\/em> newspaper that the impact of this tax increase will stretch beyond current gaming providers and will discourage investors from considering Kenya, shifting their focus instead to countries such as Uganda, Ghana, and Zambia, which offer less punitive taxation.<\/p>\n\u201cFrom a regional point of view, if as a country we end up being the highest taxed it would affect potential investors coming in,\u201d Gikonyo said. \u201cIf they look at the environment vis-a-vis countries next to us, they might go there because (they have) a more favorable tax environment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In an attempt to corral the growth of an industry that has in recent years taken a country by storm, Kenya has imposed a major tax hike on betting companies. On Wednesday, President\u00a0Uhuru Kenyatta signed a finance bill into law that will levy a 35 percent tax rate on all gambling revenue for bookmakers, casinos, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":52999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,13,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Kenya Ups Its Gambling Tax Rate to Slow Explosive Growth<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n