President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, has ordered a ban on sports betting in the East African country.
He confirmed the ban on Thursday in a post via his verified Twitter account.
Before Museveni’s tweet, Ugandan Minister of Finance, David Bahati, was quoted in a statement as saying no new licenses will be issued for the betting companies and that old licenses will not be renewed upon expiration.
Bahati had said: “We have received a directive from President [Yoweri] Museveni to stop licensing sports betting, gaming and gambling companies. The president has now directed the board which has been regulating them.
“From now onwards, no new companies are going to be licensed. Those which are already registered, no renewal of licences when they expire.”
He cited the negative impact of betting on the youth and foreign-owned betting companies profit repatriation to their home countries as the main motive behind the presidential directive.
In his tweet, Museveni wrote: “It is for this reason that we are banning registration of new fully-owned foreign betting companies while the old ones will not have their licences renewed. All they do is accumulate money from Ugandans then ship it out of the country.”
