The National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board has been directed to strengthen the regulation of gaming activities warning that unlicensed operators are increasingly exploiting communities especially in rural areas.

The legislators on the Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) tasked the Board to intensify licensing, monitoring and enforcement against illegal lotteries, gaming machines and online platforms.

Kalungu County West MP, Hon. Joseph Ssewungu said several gaming and lottery businesses operated by foreign nationals have spread to rural areas where enforcement remains inadequate.
“Many Indians, Chinese and other Asians have established gaming and lottery businesses in rural areas. Licensing is a source of revenue for your entity because your budget is minimal and our interest is in licensing,” Ssewungu said during the COSASE meeting on Wednesday, 26 August 2026.
He cited Kalungu District, where he previously intervened to close several unlicensed lottery businesses that were collecting money from unsuspecting residents.
“Many of them were not licensed but were charging money. People were complaining that they have sold all their coffee after playing lotteries,” he said.

Ssewungu asked the Board to clearly explain its licensing and enforcement mechanisms arguing that rural communities were bearing the greatest consequences of illegal gaming.

PWD Representative, Hon. Bumali Mpindi questioned the effectiveness of the Board’s information technology systems in tracking revenue generated through online gaming. He said the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) had previously reported difficulties in collecting taxes from the industry.
“You license online gaming companies and they collect a lot of money but the country does not adequately benefit. You are talking about ICT; what is difficult about collecting this money when you have all these systems?” Mpindi asked.

Budadiri East MP, Hon. Julius Nakiyi asked the Board to ensure fairness in the taxation of both online and land-based gaming. He also called for a public awareness campaign on the dangers of excessive gambling.
”We see that people spend more time on these games than work; you need to strike a balance between productivity and gaming,” he said.

The Board’s Chief Executive Officer, Denis Ngabirano said the Board has in the past six years stepped up efforts to crack down on illegal gaming and lotteries, reporting that 9,983 illegal gaming machines have been confiscated.

“It is true that we have illegal equipment but they are not imported when they assembled, some are imported as electronic spare parts,” said Ngabirano adding that the board has successfully blocked 57 illegal online gaming sites.

Ngabirano added that technology had improved the monitoring of online gaming and increased tax collections between the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 financial years.
“Most of the tax we are collecting is from online gaming; it is over 68 per cent. The increase was because of the online financial monitoring system we put in place and we plan to digitize all our systems,” Ngabirano said.

He explained that URA has only complained of challenges with collecting withholding tax from land-based casinos which he said remains difficult because the tax is imposed on winnings, which are easier to track electronically.