How Uganda's Central Payment Gateway Changes Mobile Money Betting

Nearly every bet in Uganda starts and ends on a phone. Players deposit through mobile money, stake on football, and wait for winnings to land back in the same wallet. Uganda's gaming sector has grown on the back of smartphone adoption, mobile money and digital betting, especially among younger urban players. Now the government wants to see every shilling in that loop. A new payments framework, combined with higher taxes from July 2026, changes how operators move money between players and wallets.

One Gateway for Every Wager

Under Uganda's Tax Procedures Code Amendment Act 2025, betting and casino operators must take wagers and pay winnings through a central gateway licensed under the Bank of Uganda's payments framework. The gateway also connects to the Uganda Revenue Authority's electronic system. The National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board keeps its regulatory powers over the industry. Operators outside the system face heavy costs. The penalty is double the gaming or withholding tax due, or 5,500 currency points, roughly UGX 110m, whichever is higher. Players also face tighter checks, with National Identification Numbers replacing Tax Identification Numbers for identity verification.

Where Mobile Money Meets the Gateway

Routing every transaction through one hub puts pressure on existing telco links. Payment specialists point to API timeouts, mismatched transaction statuses between telcos and the gateway, and unstable USSD and STK Push success rates under heavy load. Network downtime leaves many transactions unresolved, and customers grow impatient while operators fix them. Transaction costs add another layer. A customer withdrawing Shs1 million through mobile money loses about Shs6,500 in tax, against roughly Shs1,500 for the same transaction at a bank. Most mobile money users are low-income earners whose transactions rarely exceed Shs50,000 at a time.

Taxes Arrive on Both Sides

The payments overhaul lands alongside bigger tax bills. Parliament passed a harmonised 30% rate for betting and gaming, plus a 15% withholding tax on players' net winnings, both effective from 1 July. Before the change, casinos paid 30% while betting operators paid 20%. The gateway gives tax officials a direct view of stakes and payouts. Authorities say the system aims to strengthen tax collection, improve oversight and reduce underreporting of gambling revenue.

A Wallet With a Checkpoint

Ugandan betting still runs on mobile money, but the money now passes through a government checkpoint. Operators with stable gateway links and a clear plan for the 30% rate face fewer surprises than those treating payments as a telco problem alone