Gambling sector poised to contribute over Ksh.40 billion in taxes, regulator says

The authority’s Director General, Peter Karimi, says that the consistency of tax heads has led to predictability that has enabled year-on-year growth in revenue contribution. As Jimmy Mbogoh now reports, the sector is also set to see a significant shift in regulations to tame addictions.

Speaking at the Third Gaming Tech Summit Africa, which brings together stakeholders including regulators, operators and gamers under the theme “Building Africa’s Sustainable and Scalable Gaming Tech Industry,” the Gambling Regulatory Authority noted that efforts to tame gambling addiction in the country will include regulations requiring operators to take action. These include forced cooling-off periods for certain players and tracking players’ playing patterns through a centralised system overseen by the regulator for timely interventions.

“On the central monitoring system, we have sight of it and we can be able to track opportunities for interventions by the regulator. Even without going through the operator, we can recommend intervention from a medical perspective, cooling-off periods. We can recommend that this player be barred or be suspended for some time,” said Peter Karimi, Director General, GRA.

To further tighten oversight and ensure that gaming platforms are not a conduit for money laundering, operators will be required to integrate into a central monitoring system for both online and land-based operations. The regulator hopes this will enhance the visibility of all transactions on gaming platforms.

With revenue from gaming platforms on the rise, stakeholders have called for adaptive policies that keep up with innovation.

“We saw in terms of technology that the industry is moving very fast, while the adoption from the regulatory side was lagging behind,” said David Moshi, Managing Director, Velex Advisory.

As the summit continues, the Gambling Regulatory Authority is calling on Kenyans to ensure that the gambling platforms they use are regulated to avoid getting swindled.