Continuing key changes in taxation rates across Africa, both Senegal and Zimbabwe are set to elevate their tax rates and usher in new frameworks for operators and players.
During the country’s budget announcement, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, confirmed that taxation rates are set to significantly tighten for the country’s surging online gambling sector.
Gambling taxes in the country are set to increase from 3% to 20%, whilst taxes paid by players on winnings will increase from 10% to 25%. It marks a major tightening in the framework for the industry in Zimbabwe – which was being touted as one of the continent’s highest potential markets.
Ncube is reportedly placing greater fairness and an economic uplift at the heart of the tax hikes, with the government seeking to maximise returns from the growth of the industry.
Meanwhile, Senegal is also set to implement a 20% tax on player winnings, as it shifts in the same direction as Zimbabwe to tighten gambling frameworks.
This is a move that is being mirrored across Africa, marking a potentially challenging 2026 for operators across the continent.
Zambia and Kenya have both moved to make a major shift in their tax framework – specifically around excise duty.
In Zambia, there has been continued rallying against the touted introduction of a 10% excise duty tax on all betting stakes.
It prompted an application from BetPawa and Betway to halt the tax, however, this was dismissed by the country’s Constitutional Court.
Nonetheless, the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) detailed that the excise duty is fuelled by consumption from bettors and not operators, affirming that it had engaged with stakeholders on the decision.
Following this, the operators looked to implement an interim injunction to stop enforcement of the excise duty pending the full hearing of their constitutional petition.
ZRA countered that the tax was lawful and implementable in its current form. The organisation emphasised that any interference at this stage would be an encroachment on its statutory duty.
Seemingly cementing a future for excise duty in Zambia, the Court decided that the petitioners failed to demonstrate a sufficiently serious constitutional issue to justify suspending the law at this stage.
There was a contrasting approach in Kenya, where, under the Finance Act 2025, a 5% tax will be levied on players when they withdraw money from their betting account. Previously, bettors were subject to a 20% withholding tax on winnings that excluded the initial stake.
Kenya’s Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that the change is expected to increase revenue collection from Ksh 5.4bn (£32.9m) to Ksh 11.4bn (£69.54 m).
At the time of the announcement, MP Kimani Kuria, Chairman of the Finance Committee, stated: “We are changing to make excise duty payable when you transfer money from your mobile wallet to the betting company wallet.
“There are so many entities operating virtually, some outside the country, from which we are not able to get the excise duty from them. This now means that every time a Kenyan transfers money from their mobile wallet to the wallet of the betting company, then that’s the time the excise duty is paid.”
Overhaul is also seemingly on the horizon in Nigeria, with the market potentially being faced with a crossroads over the future of its gambling framework.
A bill to harmonise gambling frameworks and regulations across Nigeria has been met with significant backlash.
The bill is focused on shifting taxation rates and legislation across Nigeria, where regulators are faced with the ambitious task of aligning 36 states in the country.
Opponents have described it as “nothing short of legislative provocation and lawlessness, potentially being a brazen defiance of judicial authority and a direct attack on the rule of law.”
