The Republic of Congo wants to charge a 10% levy on gambling stakes paid through electronic money, under a draft bill now before its parliament. Finance minister Christian Yoka presented the measure to the National Assembly and Senate on 29 October, as part of the country's 2027 Finance Bill.
Article 7 of the bill sets the levy at 10% of stakes placed using electronic money. Article 3 goes further: operators would have to accept stakes only in electronic money, cutting out cash wagers entirely. Article 4 requires every licensed operator to connect to a new national gambling oversight platform, with Article 8 setting a deadline of 1 March 2027 to comply.
The bill splits the new revenue four ways: half to the Public Treasury, 20% to the Authority for Regulation of Games of Chance and Gambling (ARJHA), 20% to the Agency for Regulation of Posts and Electronic Communications (ARPCE), which would build and run the oversight platform, and the remaining 10% to the Tourism Development Fund.
Forcing every stake through electronic money is not only about collecting the new levy. It also gives ARPCE's platform a transaction trail to work from, since a mobile money payment leaves a record that cash does not. Uganda has used a similar approach with its own central payment gateway for mobile money betting, routing stakes through one point regulators can monitor directly.
The bill covers far more than gambling. It is part of a wider finance law touching customs duties, telecommunications and local authority funding, and still has to clear the full legislative process before anything changes for operators or players. The Ministry of Finance published the text on its own site on 30 October, and nothing in it takes effect until the National Assembly and Senate pass it.
Also Read: Uganda's Betting Payment Gateway and the 2026 Mobile Money Rules
Has Congo's 10% gambling levy become law yet? No. It is still a draft bill before the National Assembly and Senate, part of the 2027 Finance Bill presented on 29 October 2026.
Would the levy replace Congo's existing gambling tax rates? No, it would sit alongside them. Congo already taxes physical games at 10%, online games at 12% and virtual games at 15% under its 2025 Finance Law.
What happens if an operator is not connected to the platform by March 2027? The bill states that no gambling operator may run without being connected to the national platform once the deadline in Article 8 passes, though it does not detail the penalty for missing it.
Sources: Focus Gaming News Africa, 12 November 2026; PwC Tax Summaries, Republic of Congo.
This article is for information, not legal or tax advice. Sources last checked on 14 November 2026. Gambling is for adults only (18+).
