Kenya rejects taxing reduction

Gaming operators did not obtain the demanded reduction on current taxing rates.

Kenya.- The Kenyan press confirmed earlier this week that the national parliament has rejected the gaming bill proposing a reduction on current taxing rates from 35% to 15%. After authorities of Kenya approved an increase of gaming taxes from 7.5 per cent to 35%, Kenya’s Finance and National Planning Committee recommended a reduction of taxation to 15%.

However, the national parliament stopped Finance Bill 2018 after a similar bid through the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2018 had also failed earlier this year. Representatives of the local casino and gaming operators have demanded that the government listen to their claims as the tax is too high for the business to grow.

Meanwhile, the Parliament of Kenya has decided to cut the proposed tax on lottery and betting winnings to 10% and supported the option to lower gaming levies by more than half to 15%. National authorities, however, keep debating which measure would achieve the president’s signature to become the new law on gaming taxation.

The sector is fighting to survive in a hostile environment provided by Kenyan authorities, and casino executives are trying to overturn their position: “Most of them (casinos) are saying we would rather just close,” Association of Gaming Operators Kenya chairman Ronald Karauri stated.