In Tanzania, taxes collected from gambling companies are expected to increase by 18 percent in the 2017/2018 fiscal year. The expected increase is reportedly due to an increase in the number of gaming companies involved in the subsector.

G3Newswire reports that Zambian betting companies are projecting that the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) will be able to collect 39 billion shillings as a result of the expected growth, up from 33.6 billion shillings collected in the previous fiscal year.

James Mbalwe, acting CEO of GBT, said the number of gaming companies in Tanzania has increased from five to 26 in the last three years. "We are optimistic about the increase in revenue because there are now four foreign and local companies that have shown interest in Tanzania. All the processes have been completed, only a few issues remain to be resolved. We hope they will start operations next year," Mbalwe said.

The availability of online betting has led to increased investor interest in sports gambling compared to casinos, Mbalwe said, adding that last fiscal year, revenue from sports betting reached 7.8 billion shillings.

According to the Tanzania Gaming Board, casino gambling was the leading category until the 2015/16 fiscal year, but in 2016/17, sports betting took the lead. Council data reportedly shows that sports betting brought in 17.9 billion in tax revenue in the last fiscal year, compared to 9.8 billion from casinos in the same time period, followed by SMS lottery at 7.4 billion, slot machines at 1.5 billion and 40 Machine Site at 278.8 million.

However, according to the news outlet, Mbalwe was quick to mention that casinos are doing well in the market despite the exponential growth of sports betting.

With a combined population of 1.26 billion, Africa is the second most populous continent in the world, and gambling is becoming a popular pastime there. Tanzania is one of the countries where the popularity of gambling has increased dramatically and has become a significant source of government revenue.