Skip to main content

Everton FC sponsor SportPesa suspends gambling operations in Kenya

By Bill Wilson Business reporter, BBC News
 
Everton football club's main sponsor, sports betting firm SportPesa, has halted operations in Kenya after a rise in tax on betting stakes.

It comes amid worries about the effects of gambling in the African nation. Online sports gambling firms such as SportPesa have grown rapidly in the East African nation in recent years, riding a wave of betting interest. The Kenyan government says the betting industry generated revenues of 204bn shillings (£1.6bn; $2bn) last year.

'Severe consequences'

The gambling boom is being fed by faster internet, cheaper phones and a love of the English Premier League. But there is a fear that adults and children are being sucked into a cycle of betting, debt and poverty.

One government minister has called this "a curse on youth", and in May the country introduced new gambling regulations, including a ban on advertising outdoors and on social media.
Parliament has now voted to raise the excise duty on bets, from 10% to 20%.

SportPesa said it was "disappointed" by the move and that it would stop its operations until a "non-hostile regulatory environment" returned. The firm has deactivated its website. It said the new tax comes on top of an existing 20% tax on individual gamblers' winnings.

"This will have severe consequences for licensed betting companies, which dutifully pay their taxes and ultimately will lead to a decline in government tax revenue to near zero and will halt all investments in sports in Kenya," the firm said.
"Until such time that adequate taxation and non-hostile regulatory environment is returned, the SportPesa brand will halt operations in Kenya."

SportPesa was founded in Nairobi by Kenyans backed by Bulgarian investors. As well as Everton it has also had partnerships with English clubs Arsenal, Southampton and Hull City.

 

Comments

  1. Unknown3 January 2020 at 01:48

    bandar judi online ligaemas memberikan banyak pilihan pertandingan sepak bola yang dapat anda pilih untuk memasang taruhan judi online kalian hanya dengan minimal deposit 50rb saja. hal ini karena di situs judi bola kami ini anda bisa dengan mudah melihat pertandingan mana yang anda inginkan dengan pasaran bola terbaik di Indonesia juga di asia

    bandar judi bola terbaik

    situs judi bola

    bandar bola

    agen bola terpercaya

    Dengan bermain dan memasang taruhan anda di emasliga.com maka kesempatan untuk menang semakin besar di bandar judi bola online. Segera saja bergabung bersama kami untuk mendapatkan banyak kesempatan menang yang anda inginkan di https://emasliga.com/. View Website

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Facts The Economist Got Them Wrong on Magufuli

DAR ES SALAAM, East Africa:  By Dr. Hernan Louise Verhofstadt* “ A BIT like President Donald Trump, Tanzania’s president, John Magufuli, likes to fire employees on television. In November Mr. Magufuli used a live broadcast from a small town in the north of the country summarily to dismiss two officials,” this is an extract from a recent online article I came across from the newspaper that I admired when I was growing up in Europe back in 1990’s; the Economist . Before I venture into other serious issues, the excerpts above contains gross factual errors; my own fact-check indicates that in the named public rally during the opening of Kagera Airport, there was no summary dismissal of the two officials instantly on television, as alleged. Instead, the two, one District Executive Directors for Bukoba Urban and another for Rural were relieved their duties later through a press release from President’s Office.   This is my prima impressio reading the Economist this
45 comments
Read more

Tundu Lissu, a despot in the shadow?

By Masinde Masondore, Montreal, Canada, 01-04-2018:  WHEN a learned politician brags of publicly embarrassing his President and counts it an honor while deliberately sabotages the nation's economic interests is a misfit in African traditions. 'Africans have had own ways of criticising the King, the way it happened in ancient Israel, however, in any case, the nation's interests were set apart from any sabotage," Gilbert Moshi. Tindu Lissu, a controversial Tanzanian opposition politician would be leaning on a wrong wall. He chose a road less travelled by learned individuals who mostly were rational. The road he walks and the philosophy he exhibit, only label him a tyranny of darkness. Any democratic leader, whether in opposition or ruling party ought to be totally enveloped in wisdom which prevents monumental errors of judgment. Lissu does not exhibit a minute of it. One of the pillars of customer-focused policies in the business world i
10 comments
Read more

Magufuli Honours Promise As Dangote Factory Gets Direct Gas Supply

Production on of affordable cement now to start next month  By Correspondents Dar and Nairobi, 15:16 GMT Under his famed “delivery per se” policy, the government of Tanzania under President John Pombe Magufuli has finally confirmed that it has completed its phase mission of connecting Dangote cement plant in Mtwara, in the southern region of Tanzania, to the natural gas to generate the needed 35MW. Mr. Aliko Dangote in a tete a tete with President Magufuli at the inaugaration of the plant last year. Speaking at the end of his tour of the factory, the Energy Minister Dr. Medard Kalemani said the government was committed to supply the natural gas resource to enable Dangote cement plant access affordable energy for smooth cement production. The factory is one of the biggest cement plants in Southern Africa providing affordable cement to locals and countries in the vicinity. “I am telling you TPDC, if the factory delays to complete its insta
5 comments
Read more