Legislators of Kenya support sports betting operator
The sports betting operators of Kenya has finally achieved support from the legislators of the country.
Kenyan sports betting operators can take a breath of relief as they have got some support from the legislators of the country. Previously the government was angry with the betting sector and had continuously attacked them.
On 19th August a set of legislators has requested the government to reconsider the license of the betting operators that got suspended on 1st July this year. Following the suspension, the companies were not able to run a business anyway. The government of the country had suspended all the payment processing channels.
The government has claimed the top betting operators like Betin and SportPesa have not paid taxes worth millions of dollars. Although the betting operators have claimed these allegations to be false and has moved to the court, they even want to reinstate their license and get their Paybill numbers working.
Cleophas Malala, the senator, has requested the government to look into the matter from the growth of the economic perspective. And other stakeholders and permit these companies to resume their business while the investigation is still on. He delivered this speech while speaking to a set of legislators. He also said the administration is losing a revenue of Ksh1b per month because of the suspension of these businesses.
Another MP Babu Owino has said that he will lead a peaceful protest against the government with the fans of football club AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia. Samuel Atandi, an MP, has said that the teams should not be left to die because someone is mismanaging the sector.
Atandi also said SportPesa would not have got the award tax compliance from KRA if it was such a scofflaw that too for three years in a row.
KRA has told that the government approved the gaming laws in 2018 according to that 20% tax will be on punters winning. Senator Malala has taken a strong stance for the matter and has said the present scenario is an open violation of the existing law.
AGOK has also placed a newspaper advertisement on Tuesday trying to explain the math of wining to the government. MP Atandi has said the finance committee of the parliament should study the wining definitions thoroughly so that they can come out a solution with which everyone can agree.
