President Uhuru Kenyatta today stated that the government increased taxes on betting and gaming companies to make it hard for people to bet.
He was speaking at the Kenya International Conference Center (KICC) during the launch of the public information portal built to showcase projects by the Jubilee government.
The President, however, stated that the government was willing to engage the betting industry in discussion to deliberate a way forward.
Betting firms today moved to court to seek nullification of a proposal by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to raise taxes on gaming industry to 50 percent.
While reading the 2017/2018 budget statement the Treasury CS highlighted that betting, lottery, gaming, and competition companies had grown tremendously, adding that the sector is inadequately regulated.
“Betting and gaming have become widespread in our society in an environment that is inadequately regulated,” CS Rotich stated.
The Treasury CS proposed that taxes be raised from the current 7.5 percent (betting), 12 percent (lottery), 15 percent (gaming) and 15 percent (competition) to a uniform 50 per cent for all categories.
Read Also: Treasury CS Henry Rotich Increases Taxes on Betting and Gaming Companies to 50% in 2017/2018 Budget
