On Friday, CEO SportPesa Captain Ronald Karuri through a tweet said that the company will no longer offer any form of sponsorship starting January 1, 2018.
“We will be giving notice to clubs and unions that from January 1 [2018] we will withdraw all sponsorships,” read the tweet.
He cited that the new law signed by Uhuru will increase the cost of doing business and cannot manage to offer sponsorships.
“Our cost of doing business will be greatly affected,” he said at a meeting in a Nairobi hotel on Friday as the Star reports.
He added: “We have to consider the impact on operating besides partnerships.”
The new law has raised the tax rate to 35 per cent of the gross profit accrued by a gambling entity.
Earlier, Treasury CS Henry Rotich has proposed to place the tax at 50 per cent but Uhuru declined to sign calling for imposing of reasonable tax.
AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia, Kenya Rugby teams and Kenya Boxing League are set to be affected by the withdrawal of sponsorship by SportPesa.
Gor Mahia has struck a sh200 million deal for five years while AFC had a sh45 million deal on an annual basis for five years with Sport Pesa.
Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) and Kenya Premier League (KPL) had a five-year deal each worth sh600 million and sh450 million respectively.
Until the new law, gambling industry was only charged 12 per cent of their gross profits.