Gamblers hit with 10 percent excise duty tax
NAIROBI, Kenya, June 13 – Gamblers have been hit with a blow after the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich introduced excise duty on betting activities at 10 percent at the amount staked while reading the 2019/20 financial budget on Thursday.
This means that for instance if one is staking Ksh 100, immediately there will be 10 percent that will go to the Exchequer.
“Betting has become quite spread and its expansion has had negative social effect particularly to the youth and vulnerable members of our society, and in order to curtail the negative effect arising from betting activities, I propose to introduce excise duty on betting activities at 10 percent at the amount staked,” Rotich announced.
The development has elicited reactions from the Members of Parliament who disagreed with the CS’s betting allocation.
“I am disappointed of taxation, betting it has negative social effect for our young people and as National Assembly we suggested taxation should be 30 percent but today I was surprised the minister only increased by 10 percent, that will not cure the menace,” Ndhiwa MP Martin Peters Owino said.
“Gambling has destroyed our society and we cannot continue raising our children through guess work. I am so unhappy with position of the minister where he has taxed only 10 percent… he should have taxed more as he did with beer and cigarettes.
