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Kenya’s National Treasury will propose to Parliament, the reintroduction of the 20 percent excise duty on betting within the next six months after the tax was repealed from Finance Bill, 2020.
“The excise duty was removed through the Finance Act, 2020. The removal of this tax happened during the committee stage of the Bill,” Treasury CS Ukur Yatani said Wednesday in a statement.
The National Assembly’s Finance and National Planning Committee in its review of the Finance Bill 2020 said the removal of the tax was aimed at reversing “the negative effects of this tax on the industry, which has led to closure of betting firms in Kenya yet international players continue to operate.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the legislature’s new Finance Bill 2020, which had eliminated the 20 percent tax on bettors’ winnings that resulted in many sports betting firms to close shop. Key among them SportPesa and Betin.
“The National Treasury will be proposing to the National Assembly, the reintroduction of the excise duty on betting within the next six months,” said the CS.
