Photo: the-star.co.ke
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the government increased taxes on betting and gaming companies to make it hard for people to bet.
Uhuru however said his administration was willing and ready to engage betting companies on the way forward.
He was speaking on Monday at the Kenya International Convention Center (KICC) during the launch of the Public Information Portal which will enable access to members of the public to showcase projects by his administration.
Betting firms have moved to court to seek nullification of a proposal by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to raise taxes on gaming industry to 50 per cent.
While reading the 2017/2018 Budget statement the CS stated that betting, lottery, gaming, and competition companies had grown tremendously, and should be regulated.
“Betting and gaming have become widespread in our society in an environment that is inadequately regulated,” he said.
He proposed that taxes be raised from the current 7.5 percent (betting), 15 percent (gaming),12 percent (lottery), and 15 percent (competition) to a uniform 50 per cent for all categories.
Rotich’s proposal came after Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo’s Bill to increase betting tax from 7.5 per cent to 15 per cent of their revenues, lottery tax from five per cent to 20 per cent of their turnover, gaming tax from 12 per cent to 20 per cent of revenue and prize competition tax from 15 per cent to 20 per cent, was rejected by MPs.