Senegal gambling sector mobilises US$71m in Q1 2026 amid tax reform and online gaming growth
Finance Minister Cheikh Diba highlights lottery revenues and digital gambling challenges at African Lotteries Association seminar.
Senegal.- Senegal Finance Minister Cheikh Diba said more than CFA40.9bn (US$71m) had been mobilised from the gambling sector during the first quarter of 2026, as the country intensified focus on gaming taxation and online gambling oversight. The figures were disclosed during the opening of the recent African Lotteries Association (ALA) seminar in Dakar.
Lottery leaders and gaming stakeholders gathered at the event under the theme “Development and innovation of African lotteries”. Addressing delegates, Diba said the Senegalese government was prioritising domestic resource generation amid growing budgetary pressure.
“In a context marked by resource scarcity and increasing budgetary pressure, the Government of the Republic of Senegal has opted for diversification and strengthening the mobilisation of domestic resources,” the minister said, according to Seneweb.
Diba also referred to taxation measures introduced in the gambling sector in 2025. “It is within this framework that the introduction of double taxation of the gambling sector took place in 2025,” he stated, adding that the measures were intended to “support the mobilisation effort and better regulate this rapidly growing sector.”
According to the minister, “40,900,000,000” had been mobilised during the first quarter of 2026, representing a coverage rate of 71 per cent. “The results observed so far demonstrate the sector’s dynamism and its potential for resource mobilisation,” Diba said.
LONASE praised amid reforms
During the seminar, Diba also praised the National Lottery of Senegal (LONASE) and its director general Toussaint Manga, for supporting the government’s objectives through innovation and sector reforms. “I commend the work of the Director General of LONASE and congratulate him on the innovations implemented and for his participation in putting the government’s directives into practice,” said the minister.
Diba added that proceeds generated from the sector had been directed towards public spending priorities. “These resources from this mobilisation have been reinvested in the social priorities of the State, in a constrained budgetary context,” he said.
Diba said, “a large part of games are now carried out online in a digitised environment, often cross-border,” according to seminar transcript remarks published on Dailymotion. He additionally called for “strengthening online operational traceability tools, improving revenue collection mechanisms and establishing appropriate cooperation frameworks, particularly in the perspective of cross-border criminality.”
He also urged the ALA to continue supporting cooperation and innovation across the continent’s lottery sector. “The ALA has a decisive role to play: that of uniting the actors, serving as a vanguard, but also as a framework for consultation and formulation of innovative solutions adapted to our African realities,” he said.
Diba also warned about the dangers of online gaming among younger users, saying there were growing concerns around child protection. He called for “structural, effective, and sustainable solutions” to address the risks.
