Winners’ taxes struggle to stick across Africa
Across Africa, taxes on gambling winnings are following a familiar cycle. Introduced as revenue-raising and harm-reduction measures, they have frequently encountered enforcement challenges, industry opposition and concerns that higher rates encourage migration towards untaxed or offshore gambling channels. In response, several governments have repealed, narrowed or restructured winners’ taxes once those pressures outweighed the expected fiscal gains.
Ghana abandons its short‑lived WHT
Ghana has delivered the clearest reversal so far. The Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2023 introduced a 10% withholding tax on betting and lottery winnings alongside a 20% GGR tax on operators, extending the tax net to both sides of the market. Less than two years later, parliament repealed the 10% tax under a certificate of urgency, with President John Dramani Mahama assenting on 2 April 2025 and formalising the change as Act 1129.
Finance minister‑designate Cassiel Ato Forson told his appointments committee in January 2025 that the betting tax “must be abolished” because it had failed, and repeated the pledge in his first budget speech.
Ghana Revenue Authority estimates put expected collections from the betting tax package at around GH¢268.75 million ($23.3 million), compared with reported receipts of roughly GH¢80 million before repeal – a gap of close to 70%.
Government spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu framed the levy as a hit to low‑income bettors, arguing that taxing modest wins in a downturn compounded hardship. “We find that there were many youth who were driven into that activity because of hardship and the need for them to find something to do to make ends meet.
“Do you create difficulty for them by going to tax their meagre winnings when you have not been able to give them employment and they are struggling to find their feet?” he said. “We believe that it is important to remove that particular tax on winnings.”
Industry stakeholders added that the winners’ component was difficult to administer and unevenly enforced. Its repeal formed part of a broader rollback of politically sensitive measures such as the E‑Levy, and highlighted how quickly winners’ taxes come under pressure when they under‑deliver on revenue.
Uganda reinstates a 15% levy
In Uganda, the Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2026 and the Lotteries and Gaming (Amendment) Act 2026, both effective from 1 July, lock in a 15% withholding tax on net winnings, defined as payouts minus stake, alongside a unified 30% tax on gross gambling revenue across betting and gaming.
This time around, lawmakers are pairing the winners’ levy with tighter compliance. Operators were given until 30 June to clear qualifying gaming tax arrears in return for waivers on interest and penalties, after which the new 30%/15% regime and associated monthly reporting obligations will apply in full.
Casino owners have already told parliament and local media that collecting 15% at the point of payout on continuous play is difficult. In April Bob Kabonero from the Uganda Gaming Operators Association told a meeting of operators and accountants that: “Land‑based casinos are different from real‑time casinos or online betting. Because on online, every single player has an account, and you can log in and trace the transaction.
“But when you have 100 people playing at the same time, different games, there is cash on the tables, cashing out, cashing in using the same money, it is practically impossible to collect,” Kabonero said.
Zimbabwe pushes to 25%
Zimbabwe represents the sharp end of the winners’ tax trend. Authorities originally projected around $15 million a year from the earlier 10% withholding tax, based on estimated gross winnings of about $150 million, and early Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) data credited the levy with helping revenue slightly exceed its Q1 2025 target.
From 1 January 2026, however, the withholding tax on punters’ winnings jumped from 10% to 25%, while bookmakers’ tax on gross takings rose from 3% to 20% under the Finance Act. Betting firms, casinos and lottery operators must now withhold 25% of a player’s gross winnings at payout and remit this directly to ZIMRA under a strict monthly return and payment schedule.
Government ministers have presented the 25% levy as both a revenue‑mobilisation tool and a harm‑reduction measure, and part of a broader push to tighten compliance and curb under‑declaration. Lawmakers, industry and retail bodies have pushed back hard.
Winners’ tax could place ‘heavy burden’ on operators
During the December 2025 budget process, the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion warned MPs that the tax could place a heavy burden on operators and gamblers and cautioned that the sharp increase, alongside a higher cash withdrawal levy, risked pushing operators, lotteries, casinos and punters out of the formal system.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers told the National Assembly in December 2024 that the betting tax along with others should be scrapped on the grounds it “targets the poor”, while analysts warned in November 2025 that a jump to 25% would drive betting underground and ultimately reduce net revenue.
The government has countered that the taxes are easy to collect and will boost revenue – a familiar argument across the region. However Zimbabwe’s 25% rate is now emerging as an early test of how far winners’ taxation can be pushed before higher rates begin to shift activity out of the regulated market.
Kenya narrows winners’ tax to lotteries
Kenya offers one of the clearest illustrations of the winners’ tax cycle in full, having already gone through a 20% winners’ withholding regime and subsequent roll‑back in 2018–2020 as operators left the market and parliament eased stake‑level taxes.
Since 2025, the focus has shifted decisively away from taxing individual wins. The Finance Act 2025 replaced winners’ withholding with 5% levies on deposits into betting wallets and 5% on withdrawals.
More recently, the Finance Act 2026 has reintroduced a 20% tax on “winnings”, but crucially has narrowly defined this as payouts from lotteries and prize competitions, leaving the wallet‑based regime in place for betting and gaming.
Speaking in parliament in June, Finance Committee chair Kimani Ichung’wah framed the change as bringing lotteries and high‑value promotional giveaways into the tax net and linked it directly to social‑harm concerns for youth and families. He said online gambling had been “effectively dealt with”, but that “on‑land casinos” and lotteries with car giveaways “were not being taxed” and the new 20% levy “brings them into the ambit of taxation”.
Lagos introduces a low‑rate winners’ tax
Nigeria’s capital Lagos has opted for a softer rate and tighter identity controls. Following a February 2026 public notice from the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LSLGA), a 5% withholding tax on net winnings now applies across Lagos‑licensed betting and gaming platforms, with operators obliged to deduct the charge at payout and remit it to the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS).
Bettors must supply their National Identification Number, allowing winnings and the withheld amount to be linked to wider income‑tax profiles and treated as a tax credit rather than a standalone fee.
For most regulated‑market users, a 5% hit will likely be absorbed as part of the cost of local, well‑serviced play, particularly where licensed platforms offer better payout reliability and dispute resolution than informal alternatives. The bigger test will be whether stricter enforcement and identity‑linked reporting push a segment of price‑sensitive or high‑frequency bettors towards unlicensed operators or offshore sites over time.
Lagos is effectively running a live experiment in whether modest winners’ taxation combined with strong KYC can mobilise revenue and improve transparency without triggering the kind of migration to unlicensed or offshore play seen under higher‑rate regimes elsewhere.
South Africa bets on taxing the house, not the punter
South Africa, Africa’s largest regulated gambling market, is moving in the opposite direction: it is looking at a national operator‑side levy rather than taxes on player winnings. In a November 2025 discussion paper, the National Treasury proposed a 20% national tax on GGR from online betting and interactive gambling, to sit on top of provincial GGR taxes of 6-9%, pushing the overall burden into the 26-29% range. The treasury’s rationale is two‑fold: to reflect the social costs of rapid online gambling growth and to raise about R10 billion a year in additional revenue.
Treasury and supporters argue that a national GGR levy is easier to administer and better suited to long‑term enforcement than taxes on player winnings, since it targets operator revenue that can be captured through routine filings and audits rather than at the level of individual payouts.
The proposal has completed its public‑comment phase, with submissions closing on 27 February 2026, and already marks a clear strategic turn away from taxing players at the payout level and towards taxing the house at a central, national level.
Why winners’ taxes in Africa remain fragile
Taken together, these cases show why winners’ taxes are structurally fragile in African gambling markets. From Kampala to Nairobi, governments have spent more than a decade experimenting with taxes on gambling winnings while grappling with revenue expectations, compliance challenges and concerns that operators and punters may migrate towards lower-taxed or unlicensed alternatives. Uganda’s revived 15% levy, Zimbabwe’s steep 25% hike, Lagos’s new 5% deduction and Kenya’s U‑turn on winners’ taxation are only the latest examples.
The outcomes have started to converge. In Ghana, the 10% winners’ tax under‑delivered on revenue and was rolled back entirely. In Zimbabwe, an initial 10% levy has been replaced by a much tougher 25% regime that faces sustained opposition and may test the limits of formal‑market participation. In Uganda and Kenya, governments have repeatedly revised the balance between winners’ taxes and operator-side taxation, while South Africa is exploring a national operator-side GGR tax that bypasses the question of taxing individual winnings altogether.
Where winners’ taxes are set at levels that materially affect payouts, concerns about offshore migration often emerge and governments may find revenue targets more difficult to achieve. In several jurisdictions, governments have subsequently repealed, redesigned or narrowed the tax, while in others they have instead strengthened enforcement or shifted towards alternative models such as GGR or transaction-based levies.
At lower rates, as in Lagos, the behavioural impact is softer but governments still face the same enforcement and competition constraints. For iGaming operators looking at African expansion or consolidation, the continent’s recent record suggests winners’ taxes have often proved politically and administratively difficult to sustain over the long term, with more durable revenue models emerging in GGR-based levies and transaction taxes on deposits and withdrawals.