The only request Sportpesa founder has made to Uhuru
Here it is
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Speaking during an interview on NTV, Mr. Karauri stated that the 35-percent tax on betting companies forced Sportpesa to make the radical decision, which will have a negative impact on sports in the country.
“If we pay the 35-percent on revenue it becomes very heavy on our expenses. Sponsorships are part of our expenses and for us to continue operating so that we do not start considering job losses and everything we just had to withdraw sponsorship,” he said.
The wealthy CEO noted that it was imperative to cancel the sponsorship to avoid extreme cases of job losses that could be caused by the heavy taxation now imposed on the betting company. Karauri also mentioned that Sportpesa had spent over Sh1 Billion on sponsorship in 2017
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Karauri described the 35-percent tax levied on the sports gaming firms as unfair highlighting that they were appealing to the President to reconsider the regulation.
“We are appealing the decision because we feel it is not fair for us to be taxed so heavily because we are an industry so we also deserve fairness and justice.
“At the same time because this is a regulatory issue we would love to meet the President so that we can sit down. If they are regulations issues, they can be sorted out and they cannot be sorted out without the stakeholders. So that is why I was looking and calling out the President because we have not been called out by any other stakeholder," Karauri divulged.
The Sportpesa boss noted that the Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario neither listened to the grievances raised by the betting firms nor called them for deliberations and that was why he was appealing to President Kenyatta.
In 2017 Mr. Kenyatta signed into law a Finance Bill proposing 35 percent tax on revenues from betting firms.
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