Nairobi, KENYA: Kenyan betting giant SportPesa has called upon the government to revisit the new taxes imposed on companies in the betting industry arguing that it is counterproductive in their efforts to support the sports industry.
Speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday, SportPesa chief executive Ronald Karauri, said that Sportpesa has played an integral role in ensuring that Kenyan teams become relevant in sports.
“Government is one of the pillars that need to support sports and lack of it deteriorates players in any country, thus they should not try to kill our effort of supporting Kenya teams” said Karaur.
In the same event, president of Football Federation of Kenya( KPL )Nick Mwendwa, alluded that Kenya teams playing with other international teams is for the good of the nation and should not be taken for granted.
He urged the players not to look down upon themselves, and instead show good spirit towards any kind of game they are scheduled to play in the future.
“Lets us remain united towards achieving our goal,” said Mwendwa.
The two were speaking during an event for welcoming team All stars in the country from Spain, after they went for a friendly match last week that ended with them losing 1-0.
The tax measures, set to come into force in January, are contained in the Finance Act 2016 and will see betting firms part with a huge part of their revenues every month besides paying the annual corporate tax.
Under the new legal regime, companies will pay a 7.5 per cent betting tax, 12.5 per cent gaming tax and five per cent lottery tax on revenues earned.
