🆘 Ethiopia🇪🇹: betting market collapses after license cancellations as regulator maintains its official position

🆘 Ethiopia🇪🇹: betting market collapses after license cancellations as regulator maintains its official position

In December 2025, all sports betting licenses in the country were revoked. Any expectation that the sector might be restored has effectively disappeared, according to an official notice recently published by the Ethiopian Lottery Service (ELS) on its Telegram channel.

➡️ Current situation: betting operators were declared illegal, and the public was encouraged to report related activities through the 9695 hotline. Before the nationwide ban, authorities conducted enforcement actions that resulted in the arrest of 24 individuals, accused by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) of concealing more than 100 billion Ethiopian birr (USD 620.5 million) in revenue allegedly owed to the government.

➡️ Context: with a population of 116,462,712 and a GDP per capita of USD 2,333, the scale of the alleged concealed revenue is significant. Prior to the market shutdown, betting platforms reportedly processed between USD 275,280,000 and USD 344,100,000 in transactions each day.

➡️ Movement of funds: authorities allege that the concealed funds were transferred abroad through cryptocurrency exchanges and informal money transfer networks such as hawala. Domestic payment aggregators were also accused of understating actual transaction volumes while citing customer confidentiality obligations.

➡️ Regulatory oversight: gambling regulation in Ethiopia is shared between the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Ministry of Culture and Sports. According to the ELS, this divided oversight structure complicates effective supervision and accountability.

➡️ Legal developments: according to Addis Insight, all 24 individuals arrested in November 2025 were released before the end of January 2026. Authorities have not clarified whether the charges were dropped or whether the cases remain under investigation. The betting licenses, however, have not been reinstated.

➡️ Outlook: government officials have indicated that the possibility of introducing a new regulatory framework for the sector remains under consideration.

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