The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has defended the decision to increase the amount of withholding tax one pays after winning in sports betting from 20% to 30%, saying the move is aimed at streamlining the sector and set clarification on how the tax is meant to be paid.
The remarks were made by Henry Musasizi, State Minister for Finance (General Duties) while appearing before Parliament’s Finance Committee to defend the seven tax bills where he announced the new changes in the taxes to be charged playing in betting and gaming, saying the new changes seeks to exclude winning from casinos, slot machines and lotteries from the scope of withholding tax due to the confusion in determining the tax to be paid.
The proposal is contained in the Lotteries and Gaming Amendment Bill 2023 where Government is to impose a 30% withholding tax on betting wins from the 20% to 30%.
“The objective of this amendment is to address the challenge of determining the withholding tax payment at the point for the casinos, slot machines, and lotteries by removing the 15% tax and increasing the tax paid on casinos, slot machines and lotteries game from 20% to 30%. The objective of this reform is to ease administration,” he said.
The new changes comes at the time the National Lotteries and Gaming Board (NLGB) revealed last week plans to collect Shs119.844Bn in 2022/2023 financial year as revenue from proceeds and licensing of sports betting and gaming across the country.
While presenting the Board’s 2023/2024 ministerial policy statement for the National Lotteries and Gaming Board, Denis Ngabirano, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Board informed the Finance Committee that the annual revenue collections has grown from Shs17.16Bn in 2015/2016 when the Board was established to Shs110.5Bn in 2021/2022 and in just the first half of the current financial year 2022/2023, the Board has already collected Shs81Bn out of the projected Shs119.8Bn the Board had earmarked to collect.
