Ethiopian Government Crackdown on 38 Firms Following Ban of All Gambling Operations in the Country

In August of 2026, the Ethiopian government confirmed a crackdown on 38 betting companies accused of tax evasion, concealing income, and illegal financial transactions. This follows a sweeping anti-corruption and economic crackdown launched by the country’s authorities. 

According to the official brief by the Ethiopian Government Communication Service (GCS), these 38 sports-betting enterprises were targeted for infiltrating the country’s digital and financial systems to conduct economic sabotage. 

The bank accounts of all 38 betting enterprises were frozen, and their owners were taken into custody by law enforcement. Beyond concealing customer data, the entities allegedly hid revenue and manipulated transactions to evade taxes and facilitate illicit financial flows. The GCS noted that these operations targeted wider networks, causing artificial foreign-exchange shortages and inflation. 

Following the crackdown, the Ethiopia Lottery Service (ELS) clarified that the country currently has no legally licensed sports-betting operators running within its borders. 

Led by the GCS minister Enatalem Melese, authorities deliberately withheld the names of the specific betting firms and the total monetary value of the hidden funds to avoid compromising ongoing legal investigations. 

Read Also: EIH Calls on Ethiopian Lottery to Accelerate Digital Transformation and Strengthen Operations

The current escalation against iGaming operations in Ethiopia is the direct climax of a systematic regulatory teardown of the country’s sports betting sector. Before the recent teardown, Ethiopia’s multi-agency surveillance, led by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and the Federal Police, revealed that gambling firms had allegedly hidden over 100 billion Birr ($616.70 million) in government revenue. 

Therefore, the recent crackdown on the 38 firms is just a blanket ban on sports betting. The ELS had initially suspended 22 top operators, including prominent regional brands like Betika, before permanently revoking all local operating licences. 

The authorities had earlier found that operators utilised digital payment gateways, mobile money and unauthorised cryptocurrency applications to mask transactions. Rather than routing funds through the standard banking system, platforms used illegal hawala parallel money transfers. 

The National Bank of Ethiopia aggressively stepped in, ordering commercial banks, payment instrument issuers, and digital wallets to completely freeze payment processing gateways for gambling companies. 

These betting companies had initially entered Ethiopia under legacy regulatory frameworks. The frameworks completely lacked clear guidelines for modern digital betting, cross-platform integration, and modern mobile data auditing. Because the local legal market has been completely dismantled, an ongoing side-effect is a massive influx of unregulated, offshore betting brands targeting Ethiopian consumers. 

The ELS recently released emergency public notices warning citizens that with zero legally licensed operators remaining in the country, consumers using these lingering digital platforms face a high risk of total loss of funds and identity theft.

This shutdown is seen as a move to enforce strict rule of law and secure domestic tax revenues. Conversely, regional market analysts warn that sudden, non-negotiable regulatory reversals and mass asset freezes threaten broader investor confidence at a time when Ethiopia is trying to attract foreign tech investment