•Gamblers set to save 4 per cent of the ticket price.
•The Gambling Regulatory Authority replace The Betting Control and Licensing Board
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
The national Lottery bill has proposed to give back 38 per cent of the Sh31.74 Billion projected revenue by 2024.
During public participation, the presidential task force on the establishment of a national lottery indicated the creation of the National Lottery Fund where its allocation will further be apportioned to charitable causes, economic empowerment, sports transformative projects and emergency funds.
“Our mandate is to help establish a national lottery run by the government. We were also tasked to look into the sector and look and create a healthy gambling environment in Kenya,” the Taskforce Vice chairperson Gideon Thuranira.
Issues like poverty, education, healthcare and environmental conservation will consume 40 of the national fund while scholarships and scientific research under economic empowerment will get 30 per cent of the fund.
“The National lottery shall be conducted for the purpose of raising resources for the nation to facilitate the conduct of good causes in Kenya,” the Bill stated.
Sports, arts and culture also have been allocated 20 per cent.
Winners of the lottery and taxes will acquire 50 per cent of the proceedings while the Gambling Regulatory Authority gets one per cent of the proceeding.
The lottery participants will also save 4 per cent of the ticket price.
The taskforce also proposed the gambling control bill where it seeks to replace the Betting Control and Licensing Board with the New Gambling Regulatory Authority and increase the minimum bet from Sh. 1 to Sh20.
This is to curb the increasing number of children betting
The government is set to rival betting firms in sharing Sh200 billion gambling market. This is the third largest in Africa after South Africa and Nigeria.
“We realized registrations done in the past we abit overtaken by time and they have not envisaged the gambling scenario we have now,” Thuranira said.
Withholding tax on winnings from betting increased by 116.9 per cent from Sh465 million to Sh1.008 billion in December 2022
The taskforce plans to visit the 47 counties to get the public view.
Kenya leads sub-Sahara Africa with 76 per cent of its young gamblers outspending their peers on a per-capita basis with 96 per cent of them using mobile phones.