Uganda ups ante on player registration

Those keen to wager in Uganda will have to be registered with a central regulation service by the year end, according to the national gambling board.

In a move designed to help protect consumers and in turn stamp out unregulated gaming operations the National Gambling Board Uganda (NGBU) is developing a central monitoring system (CMS) that will track player activity across multiple venues and platforms.

Chief executive of the body, Edgar Agaba, stated that the CMS will be linked with the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) as to make use of its personal information database that reportedly will include biometric data.

It is believed that when the system, slated for operation in December, comes into play it will help weed out gambling venues that are not currently abiding by the laws of the land. The NGBU claimed that out of the 736 operations in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, only 583 had been approved for licensing.

Centralised regulation is becoming increasingly prominent throughout Africa as many jurisdictions attempt to keep pace with the rapidly growing demand for wagering activities and legitimise national markets.

It is believed that enhanced player monitoring would provide a boost to government tax revenue. Currently operations are taxed at 20 percent, with a further 15 percent applied to player winnings. Each yeah this led to a government gaming take of $9.8m in the 2016-17 fiscal year and it is forecast that this figure is expected to hit $11m in 2017-18 and $13m by 2019-20.