🌴Uganda🇺🇬: key insights into the gambling market

🌴Uganda🇺🇬: key insights into the gambling market

Here are some relevant figures and developments showing Uganda’s expanding and increasingly regulated gambling industry.

▶️Ugandans are gambling more: between 2020 and 2025, government revenue from betting houses increased sixfold, from UGX 50 billion to UGX 323 billion (USD 90,661,578).

▶️Total betting volume rose from UGX 500 billion (USD 139.5 million) in the 2021/22 fiscal year to nearly UGX 8 trillion (USD 2.23 billion).

▶️A dynamic market: about 10 new licensed operators enter the market each year, drawn by high demand, digital innovation, and a favorable regulatory environment. However, 51 companies exited over the past 5 years, largely due to tax hikes in 2023. There are now 52 licensed operators.

▶️Outside the regulated system: popular formats include USSD-based bingo via radio/TV, lacking age verification or third-party RNG testing. Also widespread is Aviator, a fast-paced gambling game offered by unlicensed operators.

▶️Taxation: under the 2023 reforms, gambling is taxed at 30% (excluding payouts). Sports betting is taxed at 20%. The system contains notable loopholes.

▶️To tighten control, a law passed in July mandates that all gambling transactions—both bets and payouts—must go through a centralized payment gateway system, licensed by the Bank of Uganda and overseen by the URA. Non-compliant companies will be fined double the owed tax.

▶️Regulation is handled by the National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board (NLGRB), which focuses heavily on dispute resolution. In 2023/24, it handled 46 cases involving unpaid winnings, bet cancellations, system outages, operator closures, and staff disputes. Two cases remained unresolved.

▶️Context: Uganda has a population of 44,758,809, a GDP per capita of USD 724, and a median age of 14.8 years, making it the youngest country in the world.

🤞Updated licensing and operational standards are available here.

#news #Africa #gambling #regulation

🏦Payouter.com — a reliable payment partner for the CIS and 🇮🇳India: Intent, UPI P2C conversion rate of 54% for FTD