Tanzania Plans Game Machine Revenue Split with Local Councils
Tanzania has suspended the issuance of new gambling machine licences to foreign operators while the central government and local councils finalise a planned game machine revenue-sharing arrangement.
On 29th October, Tanga Specials Seats MP Husna Juma questioned the Minister of Finance on what plans the National Lottery Board had on the control of gambling gaming machines, which he felt damaged the moral values in the country. Engineer Mshamu Munde, deputy Minister for Finance, responded by outlining government measures, including the proposed agreement with local councils and suspension of new licences for foreign gaming machine operators.
According to Munde, the draft agreement would specify how local councils and the federal government split gaming machine revenues, which will be signed after stakeholders submit their views.
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Additionally, the Board is working on a technology system that will allow gaming machines to be monitored in real time. Further to these actions, the government is working with security and law enforcement agencies, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), and local government authorities to carry out specific enforcement operations. The operations’ aim is to find and prosecute operators of illicit gaming machines.
Authorities have confiscated and destroyed 1,702 gaming machines in the last three years. The announcement follows an earlier GBT suspension in April 2026, when the regulator temporarily stopped granting new slot machine and route operator licences to new applicants while it completed the development of an electronic monitoring system for the sector.
