Pambazuka National Lottery has stopped its operations in Kenya citing the new law subjecting the lottery firm to 35 per cent tax cut.
Pambazuka on Sunday said the total cost of its operations has been pushed to 115 per cent by the new tax law.
“Operating any lottery under this framework is not possible and therefore business operations are forced to close,” read a statement from the company on Sunday according to the Star.
The lottery firm said it will only embark on its operations once the tax law is reviewed because at the moment, it does not encourage them to work in Kenya.
Those who won prizes in Pambazuka’s draw held on Saturday will get their prizes on April 7 at the firm’s offices.
“All prize claims after yesterday’s draw will be paid out to winners directly or from the company offices on April 7th 2018.”
Pambazuka’s pull out comes barely a week after Sportpesa took a similar move and cancelled all local sponsorship contracts citing the draconian 35% the law.
Until the new law came into effect, lotteries were subject to five percent of their gross profits while betting firms paid 7.5 per cent of their total gross profits.
Casino gambling was at 12 per cent and while raffle competition was at 15 percent.