SportPesa minted Sh100b from Kenyan betting fans last year alone – report
Giant betting firm Sportpesa made more than Sh1oo billion in revenues last year alone, a popular business investigative online magazine has revealed.
An article carried by the Guardian, quoting investigative website Finance Uncovered, said SportPesa made the billion amount in Kenya alone, but this information is never shared with the public.
“Well-placed sources have told the investigative website Finance Uncovered that SportPesa made more than $1bn revenues last year in Kenya, but the company does not make its revenues or profits, in Africa or the UK, public,” wrote the Guardian.
A SportPesa spokesperson described that figure as “a very significant overstatement” and said “as is common with private companies, we have made a commercial decision not to publish our revenues in order to protect our competitiveness.”
The expose comes two months after Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i spelled out tough measures to be taken to net firms that have been evading taxes despite reaping billions of shillings in profits.
Among the tough measures implemented from July 1 is the suspension of all betting agency licences in the country until the holders of those licences provide proof of their tax remittance compliance.
On July 16, Mr Matiang’i signed deportation orders against 17 foreigners who are directors of gambling firms.
The government has been mulling on deporting the bosses of betting firms whose licences were not renewed as it widens its crackdown on rogue operators in the multi-billion shilling gambling industry.