Federations against tax hike in Kenya

Entities who are benefited from gambling firms in Kenya will push to stop the government’s 35 percent tax hike.

Kenya.- After the Trends and Insights for Africa (TIFA) conducted a study that revealed that 60 percent of people in Kenya don’t support the new law, federations are teaming up to stop the government’s initiative.

Kenyan Premier League Chief Executive Officer Jack Oguda told Capital Sports that if this gets implemented in January, it will reduce the investment from betting and gambling firms in sports. “At the end of the day this will lead to cut in jobs because sports is a huge creator of employment and especially courtesy of the money put in by betting firms,” he added. Most of the people who are against the implementation argue that the new tax hike would only increase unemployment, as Capitalifm reported.

“Most feel that the Law will cripple sports in the country because of the kind of support they give to teams and federations. As a result, they also feel that will create unemployment because of job cuts,” TIFA director Maggie Ireri explained yesterday. “They want this Law to be implemented fully because they believe it will reduce gambling and protect the public from exploitation. They also feel that the Law will reduce the sprouting of more betting and gambling firms,” she added.

The Kenyan Premier League, Kenya Rugby Union, Kenya Golf Union and Extreme Sports were present during the release of the results. Bernadette Kagechu, the Extreme Sports Business Development Manager, said that the government is neglecting sports in the country. “It is time as federations and sports companies which rely on betting to stand up and lobby for a change,” he said.