Tanzania: gambling regulation and licensing

Tanzania licenses online gambling by name, which is rarer in Africa than it should be. The Gaming Board of Tanzania, established under the Gaming Act Cap. 41 with effect from 1 July 2003, publishes thirty-one licence types, two of which are an Internet Casino Licence and an Internet Sports Betting Licence, each with a published fee: 1,000,000 shillings to apply, then 110,000,000 shillings a year for internet casino and 90,000,000 shillings a year for internet sports betting. A Gaming (Internet Gaming) Regulations, 2022 instrument sits under the Act. Gaming tax is charged per activity rather than at a single rate, and the 2026/27 budget adds a 5 per cent excise duty on the value of bets from 1 July 2026, with a tenth of the proceeds going to the Board itself. Publishing the licence types and their fees openly is what makes Tanzania straightforward to assess, since the cost of entry is knowable before any engagement with the Board. The 2026/27 excise on the value of bets is the change to model, because a duty on turnover bites regardless of how the book performs.

Regulator

Gaming Board of Tanzania (GBT)

Regulator type

Gaming board

Headline tax

Not yet verified

Licence required

Yes

Minimum age

18+

Tax base

Gaming tax is charged activity by activity rather than at one headline rate, and no current Tier 1 schedule could be read at review, so no rate is recorded here. Trade reporting puts sports betting at 25 per cent of gross gaming revenue and land-based casinos at 18 per cent, with internet casinos also reported at 25 per cent; treat those as unverified. What is clearly reported is a new 5 per cent excise duty on the value of bets, covering land-based and online sports betting, land-based and online casino gaming, forty-machine slot games and virtual games operations, announced in the 2026/27 budget for implementation on 1 July 2026, with 10 per cent of the proceeds directed to the Gaming Board. An earlier amendment in July 2021 cut the casino tax under Part 5, section 31A of the Gaming Act from 20 per cent to 15 per cent and required 5 per cent of sports betting tax to be paid into the Sports Development Fund.

Capital

Dodoma

Currency

TZS

Official languages

Swahili, English

Licence required

Yes

Application window

Not yet verified

Local establishment required

Not yet verified

Local server required

Not yet verified

Barriers to entry

Entry is by named online licence rather than by negotiation, which makes Tanzania unusually legible for the region. The practical constraints are the annual fees, which are fixed and substantial in local terms, and the fact that the Board has at times closed specific categories: trade reporting says new slot machine and route operation licences were suspended as of April 2026.

Headline GGR tax

Not yet verified

Effective date

Not yet verified

Tax base

Gaming tax is charged activity by activity rather than at one headline rate, and no current Tier 1 schedule could be read at review, so no rate is recorded here. Trade reporting puts sports betting at 25 per cent of gross gaming revenue and land-based casinos at 18 per cent, with internet casinos also reported at 25 per cent; treat those as unverified. What is clearly reported is a new 5 per cent excise duty on the value of bets, covering land-based and online sports betting, land-based and online casino gaming, forty-machine slot games and virtual games operations, announced in the 2026/27 budget for implementation on 1 July 2026, with 10 per cent of the proceeds directed to the Gaming Board. An earlier amendment in July 2021 cut the casino tax under Part 5, section 31A of the Gaming Act from 20 per cent to 15 per cent and required 5 per cent of sports betting tax to be paid into the Sports Development Fund.

Minimum age

18+

National self-exclusion

Not yet verified

KYC requirements

Operators must verify player age before allowing participation. The 18 recorded here comes from trade reporting of the Gaming Act and the Board age-verification rule, not from a Tier 1 reading of the statute.

Stake limits

Not yet verified

Advertising permitted

Not yet verified

Affiliate rules

Affiliates are not separately licensed. Only operators holding a licence from the national regulator may lawfully be promoted.

Penalties for breach

The Gaming Board of Tanzania supervises licensees and can act against the licence.

The thing to watch is the excise duty. Tanzania has taxed gross gaming revenue per activity for years; a 5 per cent charge on the value of bets is a different animal, because it falls on turnover regardless of margin and it reaches online casino as well as betting. Also worth tracking is category-level supply management: the Board has suspended new slot and route operation licences, which suggests it is willing to close a class rather than price it. Anyone modelling Tanzania should confirm the per-activity gaming tax rates directly with the Board or the revenue authority, because they are not reliably published in English.

Can an operator get an online licence in Tanzania?

Yes. The Gaming Board of Tanzania issues an Internet Casino Licence and an Internet Sports Betting Licence as distinct categories, with published application and annual fees.

What is changing in Tanzanian gambling tax?

The 2026/27 budget introduced a 5 per cent excise duty on the value of bets, covering online and land-based sports betting and casino gaming, slots and virtual games, announced for 1 July 2026, with 10 per cent of the revenue going to the Gaming Board.

1. Gaming Board of Tanzania

   Gaming Board of Tanzania

   Tier 1Accessed 4 Aug 2026
2. Licence types

   Gaming Board of Tanzania

   Tier 1Accessed 4 Aug 2026
3. Fees

   Gaming Board of Tanzania

   Tier 1Accessed 4 Aug 2026
4. The Gaming (Internet Gaming) Regulations, 2022 (GN No. 478T)

   Gaming Board of Tanzania

   Located as a PDF published by the regulator. The document could not be parsed at review, so only its title, gazette number and publication location are asserted. No provision of the regulations is relied on.

   Tier 1Accessed 4 Aug 2026
5. Tanzania set to implement 5 per cent excise duty on betting stakes

   iGaming Business

   Tier 4Accessed 4 Aug 2026Published 22 Jun 2026
6. Tanzania lowers casino tax in Gaming Act amendment

   iGaming Business

   Tier 4Accessed 4 Aug 2026Published 29 Jul 2021
7. Gambling regulation in Tanzania

   iGamingToday

   Used only for the minimum age, the reported 25 per cent sports betting and 18 per cent land-based casino gaming tax rates, and the April 2026 suspension of new slot and route licences. None of those could be corroborated against the Gaming Act text or a revenue authority page at review, and the tax rates are not recorded as verified fields.

   Tier 4Accessed 4 Aug 2026