Zambia

African gambling frameworks often look simple from the outside. Operators think they can just get a licence, launch a site, and start running ads. Zambia is a useful reality check. The country has a clear legal basis for betting and land-based casinos, yet the core rules were written long before today’s mobile-first sportsbook model. That gap matters because it affects cost planning, compliance scope, and the way regulators interpret online-only activity.

2WinPower presents the operator-focused guide to Zambia’s licensing set-up. Our experts focus on relevant numbers, tax layers, and the practical hurdles that can slow a launch. 

Legal Foundation

Two primary statutes shape most commercial gambling in Zambia. Unfortunately, both have long life spans in practice. The Betting Control Act was established on 17 January 1958. Its later amendments date back to 2021 with major fee changes. The Casino Act commenced on 1 April 1992, and covers land-based premises and the Minister-led licensing model.

A separate point that often surprises new entrants is that Zambia’s modern cost system for state charges uses fee units, not fixed currency amounts. The Fee and Penalty Unit Value was set at ZMW 0.40 per unit by Statutory Instrument No. 25 of 2024.

A clean regulatory model splits Zambia into two tracks:

Bookmaking (the iGaming Track)

The Betting Control and Licensing Board is the statutory decision-maker for sportsbook authorisations and related approvals under the Betting Control Act. Even when a product is mobile-led, the Board framework remains the reference point, including licensing, conditions, and sanctions.

Casinos (the Land-Based Track)

The gaming operation requires a licence issued under the Casino Act, with the Minister as the issuing authority. Such a permit can run for a period up to five years. On the operational side, the statute allows the Minister to attach conditions and explicitly includes surveillance requirements as part of suitability.

The permit can authorise gaming tables and machines, and it is tied to licensed premises (the Act requires the area to be structurally suitable and calls out surveillance cameras as a licensing condition).

The “Third Regulator”: Tax Collection

The Zambia Revenue Authority’s rules (with excise and withholding mechanisms) shape the business model as much as the licensing paper does. For operators, this becomes a monthly discipline. In October 2025, Zambia’s Constitutional Court rejected a collective bid to block a 10 per cent excise duty on betting stakes. As a result, the ZRA continued collecting the tax introduced by the Customs and Excise (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2025.

Two compliance points are also non-negotiable in the jurisdiction:

Age Adherence

The Betting Control Act framework prohibits participation by minors. For online operations, that translates into strict KYC gates, consistent player verification, and audit-ready logs.

Product Restrictions and Market Limits

Zambia’s rules include a direct prohibition on betting linked to elections and similar political events. That matters for any operator that runs a global event engine. A generic markets template can create instant compliance exposure if it is not filtered by jurisdiction.

Online Gambling

Zambia’s betting statute was not drafted with modern remote platforms in mind. It was built around the concept of a bookmaker that operates from a defined place, and the authorisation is tied to specific premises in the licence.

Zambia’s statutory clarity is much stronger on betting/bookmaking and physical venues than on a dedicated iGaming regime. That does not mean no one offers casino-style content online, but it does imply that the legal argument tends to rely on how the activity is characterised and which licence category the regulator recognises in practice.

It is also critical to remember that Zambia does not operate like a single-window tech sandbox. Even where the main licence is national, local compliance can still stop operations.

That has two direct consequences for online-first brands:

1. A fully offshore, no-local-footprint model is hard to square with the way the law describes licensed operations.
2. Many market entries end up structured as locally anchored betting businesses that also serve customers through websites and apps, rather than as pure remote entities.

There are also product boundaries worth stating plainly. The Betting Control Act includes explicit restrictions on certain political markets, including a ban on betting connected to elections.

A compliance set often includes the following:

• municipal trade permissions for physical outlets (where applicable);
• premises inspections tied to safety and public order standards;
• local business levies and signage permissions.

These are not extra points for iGaming licences. Yet, they are common enforcement levers, especially when a brand uses retail points, agents, or payment kiosks.

Fees and Renewals

Instead of standard prices typically laid out in dollars, the country introduces a unit of measurement. Its value was set at ZMW 0.40 per unit by Statutory Instrument No. 25 of 2024.

Under the Betting Control (Amendment) Act, 2021, a bookmaker’s permit is issued for one year.

Standard licence cost:

• 500,000 fee units for the first issue;
• 250,000 fee units for a renewal.

Small business enterprise licence cost:

• 5,000 fee units for the first issue;
• 2,500 fee units for a renewal.

This financial approach is stable as a method, but the unit value can change through later statutory instruments. That is why serious budgeting uses fee units for legal accuracy and the current ZMW rate for finance planning.

Zambia’s gambling-related tax stack is heavy enough to shape pricing, bonus strategy, and even the preferred payment rails. The jurisdiction introduced a 10% excise duty on betting stakes through the Customs and Excise (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2025. Public reporting around implementation confirms it is charged on the total amount staked. This is the kind of tax that directly affects turnover behaviour. It does not wait for profitability, and it cannot be ignored without immediate enforcement exposure.

A separate pressure point sits on payouts. The withholding tax rate on winnings from gaming and betting was reduced to 15% from 20%. The change is tied to legislation that commenced on 1 January 2025. From an operations view, this impacts payment workflows, player communications, and reporting accuracy.

ZRA guidance for 2025 notes that persons carrying on a betting and gaming business fall under mandatory presumptive arrangements rather than standard income or turnover tax registration in the usual way. It influences accounting configuration, filing calendars, and the way finance teams reconcile stake flow versus revenue recognition.

Licence Acquisition

Zambia’s registration work is an established route that normally needs a complete operational story that the regulator can test. After the filing, there is also a public-facing element in the Betting Control Act framework. The process includes publication and space for objections before final grant mechanics.

A high-level application flow:

1. Local structuring and registrations. A regulator expects a business presence it can supervise, plus tax readiness that matches the product’s transaction flow.
2. Application pack and disclosures. Fit-and-proper expectations tend to show up through ownership clarity and funding origin.
3. Premises and operational controls. Even an online-led model usually needs a definable base of operations that matches the licence description.
4. Decision phase and conditions. The Board can grant, refuse, or issue permissions with requirements that become ongoing obligations.

Where operators may lose time from incomplete ownership disclosure, weak AML documentation, or a product description that does not fit the statutory categories cleanly.

Crypto can appear in African iGaming operations as a payment method or as a player preference. Nevertheless, Zambia’s licensing and tax obligations still revolve around transparent reporting and traceable settlement.

The business risk is not only regulatory ambiguity. Banking partners often treat unclear source-of-funds flows as an AML problem, which can lead to frozen merchant services even when the gambling authorisation is valid.

For most operators, the clean approach is to keep the core settlement path conventional, then treat any alternative rails as a controlled add-on with strict limits, monitoring, and documented controls.

Opportunities and Challenges

The jurisdiction offers a workable route for betting-led businesses, but it does not hand out iGaming licences easily.

Where Zambia can work well:

1. The law clearly recognises licensing for bookmaker-style activity and provides a defined annual fee structure.
2. Taxes are explicit enough to model unit economics, even if the burden is significant.

Where operators get hurt:

1. The betting framework still reads like a premises-first model, so “remote-only with no local anchor” is a weak positioning.
2. The 10% excise duty on stakes is aggressive on volume and can force pricing changes that reduce player value.
3. Monthly tax discipline and payout withholding accuracy become a constant operational load.

The Main Things about Zambia

The South African country is not a mystery market, but it is also not a shortcut jurisdiction. If you treat it like a simple licence, the fee units, excise duty, and premises-first legal logic will correct that assumption fast.

Key aspects to keep in mind about Zambia:

• The Betting Control framework is long-established and still defines sportsbook licensing, with annual validity and fees set in fee units.
• A standard bookmaker licence costs 500,000 fee units on first issue and 250,000 fee units on renewal, which equals ZMW 200,000 and ZMW 100,000 at the 0.40 unit value.
• Casino operations fall under the Casino Act, with permits issued by the Minister for up to five years and conditions that include surveillance requirements.
• Since 2025, a 10% excise duty on the total amount staked has added a major cost layer that directly affects sportsbook margins.
• Withholding deductions on winnings moved to 15% effective 1 January 2025, so payout workflows must be configured for correct reporting.

If you want to enter Zambia with fewer compliance surprises, 2WinPower can help you map the correct licence route and choose software that supports audit-ready reporting.