REGULATORY NEWS
Uganda to Issue National Lotto Licence
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he African country of Uganda has issued a call for applications to operate a National Lottery licence. The landlocked country, bordering on Kenya and Tanzania, has a population in excess of 45-million, with internet access for close to half the population and a high-percentage of smartphone and mobile use estimated at 22-million. The Ugandan National Lotteries and Gaming
Regulatory Board has issued a call for applications for the lottery licence, and is seeking an operator to run the National Lottery on behalf of the Government of Uganda, in partnership with and under the supervision of the NLGRB. Deadline for applications is 31 January 2022. More information on the licence application is available at www.lgrb.go.ug, and renowned Ugandan Gambling Law Firm, Tropical Law
Advocates has offered to talk any prospective licence applicants through the process and opportunity - Prospective operators can contact Stephen Shyaka at: shyaka.stephen@ tropicaladvocates.com or WhatsApp or Mobile Call:+256788044445 Office line: +256393236123 Website: www.tropicaladvocates.com
South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal to Raise Gaming Taxes The secretary for the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature has published an amendment to the South African province’s KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting bill, raising gaming taxes.
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he amendments include an increase in tax rates across the board, including items such as casino gaming tax, limited payout machine gaming tax, bingo gaming tax, and the betting tax on fixed odds bets on sporting events. For casino tax, operators are expected to pay 9.85% tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR) which doesn’t exceed ZAR12m (£560,000/€660,000). Revenue above ZAR12m but under ZAR30m is taxed at 11.3%. Revenue between ZAR30m and ZAR100m will be taxed at 12.5%, the same rate as before. The highest possible tax rate for casinos is for revenue of ZAR100m or more, which is taxed at 14.05%. Previously, revenue less than ZAR30m was taxed at 9.5% and revenue above this total at 12.5%.
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/ Gaming for Africa / gfamagazine.com
Tax rates for limited payout machine gaming were set at 15.25% of GGR, paid to the Provincial Revenue Fund. The highest tax rate for bingo gaming is ZAR73.8m for revenue of ZAR1bn or more. The secretary for the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Letho Sibiya, said he doesn’t foresee such proposals being met with any objection, “given that the tax rates have not been revised for many years”. Regarding tax revenue from horse racing, the amendment proposes that revenue be paid to other categories of licenced operators, rather than just to the operator Gold Circle as is currently the case. The bill proposes Category 1 licensed racecourse operators – those that conduct thoroughbred horse race meetings – should
receive 1.6% horse racing tax revenue. Category 2 operators who conduct harness racing horse race meetings, and Category 3 operators who conduct standardbred horse race meetings should receive 0.2% each. Another proposal suggests that a percentage of the tax revenues which are currently being paid into a provincial revenue fund should be funneled into a Transformation Fund for “specific projects to be undertaken by the licensee in accordance with a detailed project plan”. For fixed odds betting, operators are subjected to a tax rate of 6.0%. 3.0% goes to the Provincial Revenue Fund, 1.0% to the Transformation Fund, 1.6% to Category 1 operators, and 0.2% to Category 2 and 3 operators.