“We are not banning betting companies, what we are saying these activities should be limited to Ugandans. We have discovered that so much of our money is being exporting through gaming business affecting country’s economy, which I think should be left for Ugandans who will later invest here.”
Population
The population of Uganda, currently estimated at 46 million, will at least double between 2020 and 2060, reaching 104 million people. Uganda has the second-lowest median age worldwide.
Political and Economic Outlook
President Yoweri Museveni is seeking his sixth elected term in office after 35 years in power. The country’s suffered its worst unrest in a decade in November 2020 over the arrest of Ugandan opposition presidential hopeful Robert Kyagulanyi (more commonly known as Bobi Wine). Uganda’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 2.9 per cent in fiscal year 2020, less than half the 6.8 per cent recorded in 2019, due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. GDP is expected to grow at a similar level in 2021.
Sports Betting Regulation
There are around 10 sports betting operators which operate around 360 locations combined. The
government is looking to restrict access to the market to foreign operators. Gambling is legal in Uganda and is regulated under The National Lotteries Act and the Gaming and Pool Betting (Control and Taxation) Act. It mainly includes lotteries, casinos and gaming and pool betting. There are an estimated 2,000 active gambling and betting operators in the country.
Sports betting has spread to the country’s remote areas sparking fears that it could lead to gambling related harm. In January 2019, state Minister of Finance, David Bahati, announced that President Museveni had ordered that no more operators licences be renewed or issued. Bahati cited the negative impact of betting on the youth as the main motive behind the decision.
The order covered all gambling verticals and not only applied to those operators already present in the market, but also to potential licence holders in the future. However, this was later clarified by the Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, who emphasised that the policy
would only apply to international operators who repatriated the bulk of their revenues to their home territories: “We are not banning betting companies, what we are saying is these activities should be limited to Ugandans. We have discovered that so much of our money is being exporting through gaming businesses affecting the country’s economy, which I think should be left for Ugandans who will later invest here,” Kasaija said.
President Yoweri Museveni in a tweet reiterated the government position to ban the registration of new fully foreign-owned betting companies while the old ones would not have their licences renewed.
"All they do is to accumulate money from Ugandans then ship it out of the country," Museveni said. "We should find smart ways of handling this and ensure that at least 70 per cent, including taxes, stay in the country, so that it is not a point of grievances between locals and foreigners."
The policy means that the government eventually means to take the industry into state-owned hands. In June 2019, Matia Kasaija wrote to The Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board confirming the new policy: “Based on the Cabinet resolution, I hereby direct you to stop the licensing of gaming and betting with immediate effect. After the current licences issued on sports betting expire, the state would have the monopoly on sports betting activities countrywide,” he wrote.
P84 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
UGANDA
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