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The Democratic Republic of Congo’s online gambling scene has grown into a huge, fast-growing market, yet the country’s tax returns barely show how big the market truly is.
Estimates put annual igaming revenue at around $1.7 billion, while the state receives only $1 million, a gap that has been attributed to the rapid rise in mobile adoption and a system where oversight remains scattered.
People working inside the sector describe a space that is both wide open and hard to map. Louis Richard Tshimbalanga, who leads Congoflex Sarl in Kinshasa and also serves as Country Manager for PstBet Congo, says the scale is obvious even if the boundaries are not. “It is a mighty river surging with immense wealth, but its banks are so blurred that no one can accurately measure the gold flowing through it,” he told IGB.
Headless industry keeps growing
Activity continues to rise despite the absence of a single regulator. Tshimbalanga likens the situation to a market moving on its own momentum, noting that “The sector is advancing vigorously like a vehicle on autopilot, but without the clear, defined hands of a true regulator at the wheel.”
That freedom has encouraged operators to expand quickly and test new ideas in a market many now see as one of Africa’s strongest online gambling opportunities.
There have even been talks of reforms, including a new bill and a supposed central monitoring system, but industry reps say these plans are still unfinished or never actually took shape in some cases.
“This absence of a precise framework creates a unique stage where operators move with significant freedom; not out of defiance, but simply because the rulebook has yet to be definitively written,” he added.
Lack of oversight affecting tax collection
Tax collection has become one of the clearest signs of how poorly the DRC’s igaming sector is being run.
Operators continue to make strong returns, yet the state only sees a small piece of what the market could generate. One operator clearly stated, “Operators do pay, yes, but they pay whatever suits them. In other words, we effectively pay what benefits us.”
That freedom shows up in how tax rates are applied in practice. “For some, seven per cent GGR might be $100, for others, seven per cent might be $100,000; it all depends on the operator’s good faith,” the CEO added.
The government has tried to tighten things by pushing digital betting accounts and systems that would withold taxes automatically, but even those efforts run into basic structural problems.
“It is even more complicated for the Ministry since it cannot directly target mobile money via operators, which is their main source of income”, reflecting the ongoing operational challenges faced by regulators,” one source stated.
“How can you manage what you can’t even measure? The problem is that the 2020 law still awaits its implementing decree to specify the concrete conditions for data collection and sharing,” Tshimbalanga added.
Source: Focus Gaming News
