Gambling companies in Rwanda are hindered by the authorities

The authorities in Rwanda, located in eastern Africa, are preventing legal gambling operators from launching online betting platforms that should temporarily replace land-based betting shops closed due to anti-coronavirus restrictive measures. When it became known about the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rwandan authorities stopped the activities of land-based gambling establishments and offered their operators to work on the Internet, representatives of the country’s gambling industry said. According to them, gambling companies, except for one – Gorrilla Games, have not been able to obtain a license for online gambling. Thus, the officials gave Gorilla Games a monopoly on online gambling in Rwanda. At the same time, gambling operators not only cannot receive income from activities on the Internet, but also bear fixed costs for the maintenance of their infrastructure and the maintenance of employees. Due to Gorilla Games’ monopoly on online gambling, some Rwandan players went to offshore operators, which means they became unprotected in case of fraud by unlicensed companies operating from outside Rwanda, representatives of legitimate businesses stated. They noted that there are no steps taken by the country’s authorities to regulate online gambling. The Ministry of Trade and Industry of Rwanda, which is the state regulator of gambling, sees nothing wrong with the current situation. Officials said only one thing – that the national legislation on gambling is currently being revised and, perhaps, a draft law on gambling on the Internet will be prepared. When it is adopted, then it will be possible to regulate online gambling, the ministry added. As My Lucky Story reported, in another African country, in Kenya, a gambling operator managed to protect its assets from encroachment on them by the authorities. Earlier it became known that the gambling company Pronet Gaming entered the gambling market of Kenya by signing a contract with the local bookmaker Winnerbet.