In 2023, the Angolan state collected 10.1 billion kwanzas (€10.6 million) from the gambling sector, and this year, it expects to reach 16 billion kwanzas (€16.8 million), the head of the area.said on Tuesday
According to the director-general of the Gambling Supervision Institute (ISJ), Paulo Ringote, who was speaking at the opening of the ceremony to present the “Panorama of the Gambling Sector in Angola 2023”, the gambling market had a positive performance last year, which translated into gross revenue of 37 billion kwanzas (€39 million).
“The gambling sector is growing. We think it’s consolidating,” said Paulo Ringote, stressing that for many years there had been “little dialogue, little rapport,” which has been changing over the last three years, “listening more to the operators, accommodating their concerns more, for example the tax issue.”
Paulo Ringote said that tax rates used to be high, but they have been reduced in the last three years, allowing for “encouraging figures” for the sector.
According to Paulo Ringote, the results achieved in 2023 were fundamentally due to the extension of the activity to more provinces, mainly social games, which were confined to Luanda for many years, and greater inspection.
He pointed out that the next five years will be “very challenging” and the new gaming law will bring more organisation to the sector, structural changes that will allow for an increase in operators, especially in territorial sports betting. This area contributes most to revenue collection.
There are 23 operators in the Angolan gambling market, ten of which are in the gaming sector, three in territorial sports betting and ten in online gambling.
According to Paulo Ringote, lottery games will be reintroduced at the end of this year and the concession contract for the winner of the public tender organised by the state is currently being negotiated.
According to him, over the next few years “the gambling sector should contribute amounts in kwanzas equivalent to 100 million dollars” (€91.9 million).
The president of the Gambling Association, Henrique Doroteia, said that although the sector has existed for around 20 years, it has only just started to develop and needs to be scaled up.
“The sector can’t grow forever. It has an end. A large casino is soon to open here in Luanda, with a capacity for hundreds of customers a day. This casino will lead to the disappearance of other casinos that exist; that’s an example,” he said.
Henrique Doroteia, who is also chairman of the government committee of ACK Games, defended the need to continue reducing the state’s taxes, considering that even with a reduction to 18% or 20%, “it’s still an exaggeration.”
“Tax in Angola can’t exceed around 12%, because it’s a huge burden for operators and it doesn’t become profitable. There’s not only the Special Gambling Tax, but there’s another one that’s paid daily on each table, each machine that works, on the players’ winnings. In these indirect charges alone we have around 8% to 10%, which means – until the law is passed [under discussion in the National Assembly] – that it’s 25% plus around 10%, which gives 35%,” he described.
Henrique Doroteia pointed out that the association had managed to reduce the tax from 45% two years ago to the current 25%, with a reduction to 18% or 20% expected. However, it will continue to fight to get it down to around 12% because “nowhere in the world are there taxes of this amount on gambling; only Angola invented this.”
The sector employs nearly 6,000 people, of whom 1,703 have administrative and operational/shop jobs and 4,177 are gaming intermediaries.