In a new series SiGMA News examines the gaming sector in East Africa.? The focus is an insight into the gaming sector in Tanzania.

In Tanzania online casinos have been licensed to operate since 2013. The first casino licence was issued to the now defunct iplay8casino.com6. Its demise may have resulted from the low (15 percent) internet adoption.

Since then, Tanzania’s internet infrastructure has benefited from rapid expansion. So much so, that the government was prompted to regulate internet gambling. At the end of 2022, Tanzania’s internet penetration rate was 50 percent, able to sustain multiple internet betting companies and keep a few Tanzanian digital casinos viable in the long term.

Only digital casino platforms with a licence from the Gaming Board of Tanzania can accept players from the country. Offshore operators can also acquire a licence, provided they set up Tanzanian subsidiaries. Using unlicensed online casinos is illegal, although there is no enforcement regarding ordinary players.

Online casino licence fees cost? US $40,000 annually. Apart from the fixed fee, gambling tax rates apply at 25 percent of gross gaming revenue (GGR) for internet casinos, and online gambling companies are required by law to charge a 10 percent tax on the net winnings of Tanzanians.

Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in Tanzania. Consequently, bitcoin casinos are also unregulated. Because of the lack of specific regulation and official legalization, none of the bricks and mortar casinos in the country accepts virtual currencies, and none of the Tanzania-licensed online gambling websites accept crypto coins.

However placing bets with bitcoins, litecoins, Ethereum, and similar crypt tokens is not illegal, and players who play in offshore bitcoin online casinos are not sanctioned or prosecuted and Tanzanian internet service providers do not block these sites. Bitcoin casinos that accept players from Tanzania include? ?SlotV?live casino and sportsbook.

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