Zambia Gaming License

Who regulates gambling in Zambia?

Gambling regulation in Zambia is split across four statutes and three decision-makers. The Betting Control and Licensing Board licenses bookmakers. The Lotteries Control Board handles lotteries. The Minister issues casino and pools licenses. The Zambia Revenue Authority collects the levies, and PACRA registers the operating company.

The Betting Control and Licensing Board is a statutory body created by section 3 of the Betting Control Act, Cap. 166. Its chairman is nominated by the Minister, and the Inspector General of Police or a senior representative sits on it. The Minister appoints up to five further members by Gazette notice, and four members form a quorum. The Ministry of Finance and National Planning lists the Board among the statutory bodies it is responsible for.

Casinos sit on a separate track. The Casino Act, Cap. 157 gives the licensing decision to the Minister. The Ministry of Tourism publishes the forms, guidelines and bank details that applicants use.

Lotteries go to a third body, the Lotteries Control Board established by section 4 of the Lotteries Act, Cap. 163. Pools licenses are issued by the Minister under section 3 of the Pools Act, Cap. 165.

One overlap is worth knowing before filing. Section 2 of Cap. 166 defines a bookmaker to include any person operating a football pool. Football pools can therefore fall inside the betting regime and inside the Pools Act at the same time. Which route applies is a question to settle with the Board before building the product.

Two regulators share a name, and the difference matters for anyone researching a gambling license in Zambia. Zambia's Betting Control and Licensing Board is not Kenya's body of the same name, which operates under the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act, Cap. 131 and publishes at bclb.go.ke. Kenyan fee levels, application forms and timelines have no application in Zambia, and several vendor pages import them wholesale.

Is online gambling licensed in Zambia?

No Zambian statute creates a separate online gambling license. Zambian law regulates bookmaking, casinos, lotteries and pools without describing online delivery. Operators taking bets over the internet in Zambia work under a bookmaker's license from the Betting Control and Licensing Board. Published practitioner guidance to the Zambian regime reaches the same conclusion: there is no separate online licence to apply for.

This matters for anyone searching for a Zambia online gambling license as a distinct product. No such instrument appears in the statutes, and no online-specific technical standard is written into them. The Board publishes no application forms either, so what it asks an online operator for is not a matter of public record.

Section 7(1) of Cap. 166 lets the Board request whatever further information it considers necessary. Platform and payment questions reach an online operator that way.

Reform is drafted but not done. Government has prepared a National Gaming and Lotteries Policy and a bill to establish a National Gaming and Lotteries Board.

Cabinet approved that bill in principle on 23 June 2025, with six older statutes marked for repeal. The bill had not been enacted as of September 2026, so the name circulating online as Zambia's unified gaming regulator has no statutory basis yet. Any operator modelling a Zambian entry should assume today's split statutes and watch for the consolidation separately.

What types of gaming licenses are available in Zambia?

Every gaming license in Zambia sits under its own statute, and there are six kinds. Betting, casino, temporary casino, lottery, pools and gaming machine authorisations differ in issuing body, term and what they allow. Zambian law recognises no B2B supplier category and no separate online category, so the choice is made among these six.

Bookmaker and betting licence

The bookmaker's license is the working instrument for sports betting in Zambia, including online sales channels. Section 14 of Cap. 166 was repealed and replaced by the Betting Control (Amendment) Act, No. 50 of 2021. That amendment set the fee in fee units and fixed the term at one year from 1 January 2022.

Three statutory rules govern how the license works. The license states the precise location and extent of the premises it covers and carries every condition the Board imposes, under section 10. The Board must take security by fidelity bond or other approved security, of not less than K4,000 under section 8(1).

It may raise that figure as the book grows. The Board can demand audited accounts at any time, and must do so at least once every twelve months under section 23.

Section 22 bars betting with anyone under eighteen and bars under-eighteens from licensed betting premises. Regulation 16 carries a consequence that is easy to overlook: a renewal follows the same procedure as an original application, so the advertisement and the objection window recur every year.

Casino licence

A Zambian casino license is unusually specific. Under section 3(4) and 3(5) of Cap. 157 it authorises named games only. The license also fixes the number of tables, wheels and gaming machines, in a defined part of defined premises. Operating more tables or machines than the license lists is an offence.

Two conditions surprise applicants. Section 5(2) requires the licensee to carry on and maintain a hotel on the licensed premises, of the size and standard the license specifies. That duty runs for the life of the license.

Section 5(1) requires the premises to be structurally adapted for use as a casino, properly provided for sanitation, and fitted with surveillance cameras covering the games. Failure to maintain the hotel is a stated ground for revocation under section 6(1).

The Ministry of Tourism publishes the paperwork, which is unusual in the region and useful for planning. Its casino licensing page carries guidelines for casino licensing and an online checklist. It also publishes the application for declaration of authorized games and rules and the application to use gaming equipment or tokens.

The renewal application and the bank details for payment are there too. Casino inspectors appointed under section 8 may enter licensed premises at any time, audit the records behind gross revenue and supervise the count at close of business.

Lottery and gaming machine licences

Lotteries run under the Lotteries Act, Cap. 163. Section 4 establishes the Lotteries Control Board. Section 5 lets a controlling authority authorise a lottery only where it raises funds for social service, public welfare, relief of distress, patriotic purposes or sporting facilities. At least a quarter of the gross proceeds must go to that object. A commercial lottery outside those purposes needs the Minister under section 5(2).

Gaming machines are not a license of their own in Zambia. Each machine is authorised and counted on a casino license. Keeping a machine for gaming without a casino license is an offence under section 3(7)(a) of Cap. 157, and the machines are forfeited on conviction.

The standalone Gaming Machines (Prohibition) Act, Cap. 92 was itself repealed by the Casino Act in 1992. That is why every machine now hangs off a casino license.

What are the requirements for a Zambia gaming license?

Requirements for a Zambia gaming license come from the statutes and from the Board's discretion under them. A registered Zambian business, a fit-and-proper applicant, suitable named premises and statutory security are the fixed elements. Financial, tax and anti-money-laundering documentation is requested case by case, because no single published checklist governs a betting application.

• A company registered with PACRA, the Patents and Companies Registration Agency, because a Zambian license attaches to premises and a business inside Zambia.

• Section 7(2) of Cap. 166 requires a fit-and-proper finding before any license issues.

• Named premises that the Board finds suitable, weighing among other things how close they sit to premises licensed for liquor.

• Security by fidelity bond or other security the Board approves, of not less than K4,000 under section 8(1) of Cap. 166, set against the expected scale of the book.

• Proof of funding and financial standing for the applicant, its directors and its beneficial owners.

• A business plan showing the product, the channels and the financial model.

• Tax registration and tax clearance with the Zambia Revenue Authority, which also administers the betting levy.

• Anti-money-laundering and counter-financing-of-terrorism policies. Gaming and casino operators are reporting entities under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, No. 46 of 2010, and casinos count as designated non-financial businesses.

• Audited accounts available on demand and at least annually under section 23 of Cap. 166.

• Age controls that keep anyone under eighteen out of betting and off licensed premises, under section 22 of Cap. 166.

One widely repeated requirement does not appear in the statutes. No Zambian gambling act or regulation prescribes random number generator certification or platform testing by a named laboratory. Technical evidence is requested instead under section 7(1) of Cap. 166, which lets the Board require whatever further information it considers necessary. The specification is therefore set in correspondence.

How do you apply for a Zambia gaming license?

Applying for a Zambia gaming license runs in three phases. Register the Zambian company, then file and clear due diligence, then pass inspection and register for tax before taking a bet. Betting applications go to the Betting Control and Licensing Board, casino applications to the Ministry of Tourism. Statutory publicity shapes the betting timetable.

Phase 1 - Local company and pre-checks

Incorporate or register with PACRA first, since the license application is made by the Zambian entity that will trade. Open the corporate bank account and assemble proof of capital and source of funds for shareholders and directors. Register the entity for tax with the Zambia Revenue Authority and get tax clearance, which the Board expects to see.

Phase 2 - Application and due diligence

A betting application is submitted to the Board in duplicate on the prescribed Form 1. Regulation 4 of the Betting Control Regulations requires it to arrive at least forty days before the date the applicant wants to start trading. The Board checks that the details are clear and may return the application for amplification before it goes further.

What happens next is specific to Zambia and easy to miss. Under regulation 6 the Board advertises the application in the Gazette and one local newspaper, at the applicant's expense. Any person may then object in writing within twenty-one days of that publication, setting out grounds. The Board sends a copy of every objection to the applicant.

The Board gives at least ten days notice of the meeting where the application will be heard. Under regulation 10 both the applicant and any objector may appear personally or by counsel and lead evidence. The Board may take that evidence on oath.

The decision itself is discretionary. Section 7(2) of Cap. 166 lets the Board grant or refuse a license in its absolute discretion and without giving reasons. One proviso limits that discretion: the Board must be satisfied the applicant is fit and proper and the premises suitable.

Casino applicants follow the Ministry of Tourism track instead, using the published forms and the online checklist. They face the conditions in section 5 of Cap. 157, with no public objection window.

Phase 3 - Inspection, grant and go-live

Premises are assessed before a license issues. For casinos the test is written into statute: structurally adapted for use as a casino, properly provided for sanitation, and fitted with surveillance cameras over the games. The license that issues states the precise location and extent of those premises and every condition attached to it.

Tax registration is the last gate before launch. Register with the Zambia Revenue Authority for the betting levy before accepting the first bet.

Returns and payment fall due within ten days after each month end. The Betting Levy Act, No. 27 of 2025 also requires six years of records. No Zambian instrument sets a decision deadline for the Board, so any month count quoted for Zambia is somebody's estimate rather than a rule. The statutory sequence is what can be planned: filing at least 40 days before the intended start, the Gazette and newspaper notice at the applicant's expense, and a 21-day objection window.

How much does a Zambia gaming license cost?

Zambia gaming license cost is set in fee units, not in published kwacha amounts. Neither the Betting Control and Licensing Board nor the Ministry of Tourism publishes a consolidated rate card. Because the fee unit has been revalued, figures quoted elsewhere differ by more than an order of magnitude, so the cost lines below carry no amounts.

The statutes denominate license fees in fee units, a unit of account revalued from time to time by regulations under the Fees and Fines Act. A fee stated in fee units therefore changes in kwacha whenever the unit is revalued, without the gambling statutes being touched. That single mechanism explains most of the disagreement. Several repeat kwacha figures calculated on a superseded unit value, and at least one reads the fee unit count itself as a kwacha amount.

Budget for these lines:

• First-issue license fee, set in fee units by section 14 of Cap. 166 as replaced by Act No. 50 of 2021.

• Renewal fee on the same fee-unit basis, payable every year because the bookmaker's license runs for one year.

• The fidelity bond required by section 8(1) of Cap. 166, with a statutory floor and an amount the Board sets against expected turnover.

• The statutory press advertisement in the Gazette and one local newspaper, which regulation 6 puts at the applicant's expense.

• For casinos, the annual license fee plus the per-table and per-machine fees under section 15 of Cap. 157.

• PACRA registration and Zambia Revenue Authority registration for the company.

• Compliance build and running cost: anti-money-laundering policies, six years of records, and a monthly betting levy return.

Confirm the current fee unit value and the amounts payable with the Board or the Ministry of Tourism before committing capital. Ask for them in writing, with a date.

What taxes and levies apply to gaming operators in Zambia?

Zambian gaming taxation was rebuilt twice in two years, and the position from 1 January 2026 differs sharply from the one in force a year earlier. Online betting now pays a levy on money moving through player accounts rather than a tax on stakes or margin. Presumptive gaming tax applies only to brick-and-mortar operations.

The betting levy is the charge that decides whether a Zambian book works. Section 5 of the Betting Levy Act, No. 27 of 2025 charges 5% on all deposits into a customer's gaming account. A separate 5% falls on all withdrawals from it. The betting company pays it, calculated on money moving through the account.

A player who deposits, wins and withdraws is levied twice on the same funds. The effective cost therefore rises with churn, and is unrelated to margin. Section 6(1) exempts brick-and-mortar betting companies, which makes the levy an online charge in practice, and section 7(1) requires six years of records.

The excise episode explains why operators watch Zambian tax policy closely. A 10% excise duty on betting stakes was introduced by the Customs and Excise (Amendment) Act, No. 11 of 2025 and took effect in 2025.

Betway, betPawa and BetLion suspended or paused operations in response, and Betway ended its Zambian Premier League sponsorship. The Constitutional Court of Zambia refused an application by Betbio Zambia and Emerald Bay to stop collection, and the ruling upheld a pay-now-argue-later position. The duty was then suspended to zero by Statutory Instrument No. 1 of 2026, signed on 9 December 2025 and gazetted on 2 January 2026.

The instrument itself is specific. The Customs and Excise (Suspension) (Betting Services) Regulations, SI No. 1 of 2026, were signed on 9 December 2025 and gazetted on 2 January 2026, and regulation 2 suspends the duty rate on betting services of tariff heading 0000.20.00. Trade coverage published later in 2026 still describes the 10% excise as payable, because it works from the 2025 charging provision rather than from the suspension instrument; check the Gazette rather than the commentary.

Treat the suspension as current but reversible. It rests on a statutory instrument made under section 89 of the Customs and Excise Act, not on repeal of the amending Act. The charging provision remains on the statute book, and a future instrument could restore the rate.

Get the current position from the Gazette or the Zambia Revenue Authority before building a model. Sources dated before January 2026 still describe the 10% duty as payable.

What are the advantages of a Zambia gaming license?

Zambia has a small set of real advantages, and they are structural. Betting licensing is a long-established statutory regime. Casino licensing has a published process, and the current online tax position is lighter than it was in 2025. None of them makes Zambia a cheap market to run.

Betting has been licensed by statute since the Betting Control Act came into force on 17 January 1958. The Board, the application procedure, the objection right and the appeal route have been in place for decades. An operator is working inside a procedure that has been tested for decades. That matters when the alternative in the region is a regime written last year.

Casino licensing is documented in public. The Ministry of Tourism publishes its guidelines, its application forms for authorised games and for gaming equipment, its renewal form, an online checklist and its bank details. Regional casino regimes frequently publish none of this, so the paperwork being visible before an applicant commits reduces entry uncertainty in a measurable way.

The online tax position improved on 1 January 2026. Act No. 17 of 2025 confined presumptive gaming tax to brick-and-mortar operations, and the 10% stake excise stands suspended to zero. That leaves the deposit and withdrawal levy as the operating charge.

A license also gives lawful access to a domestic market with an entrenched football betting culture and widely used mobile money rails. That is why the incumbents fought to stay in it.

What are the disadvantages of a Zambia gaming license?

The case against Zambia is policy instability and a tax base that ignores profitability. Charges accumulated rather than replaced each other through 2025, licensing remains split across four statutes, and the license reaches only Zambian players. An operator needs tolerance for rules that moved twice in two years.

The 2025 tax shock was real and its effects were visible. A 10% duty on stakes, arriving on top of the existing charges, drove Betway, betPawa and BetLion to suspend or pause operations. It also cost the Zambian Premier League its Betway sponsorship.

Government corrected course by suspending the duty and moving to the deposit and withdrawal levy. The episode showed how quickly Zambian policy can make a licensed business unviable.

The levy that replaced it taxes cash movement, not margin. A high-churn book pays 5% going in and 5% going out whether or not the month was profitable. The charge therefore falls hardest on the mobile-first, small-stake model the Zambian market runs on. Deposit and withdrawal velocity, not gross gaming revenue, is the number that decides whether a Zambian book clears its costs.

Three structural drawbacks remain. There is no online-specific licensing regime. An internet operator works under instruments drafted before the internet, and depends on the Board's discretion for technical questions. Licensing is fragmented across the Betting Control and Licensing Board, the Lotteries Control Board and the Ministry of Tourism. That means separate filings and separate relationships.

And a Zambian license covers Zambia only. Operators needing reach across several markets look at a portfolio of national permissions or at an offshore route. The gambling license hub sets out the alternatives, and the regional comparators are Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Why choose MGL for Zambia gaming licensing?

MGL runs the parts of a Zambian entry that sit outside the license application itself. The Zambian company at PACRA, two separate regulator relationships, the tax registrations that must exist before the first bet, and the monthly reporting that follows. More than 300 licenses have been obtained on applications we have run.

Three pieces of Zambian practice have to be handled directly. The betting application must reach the Board at least forty days before the intended launch date.

It is then advertised in the Gazette and a local newspaper at the applicant's expense, so the wording filed is the wording the market reads. The twenty-one day objection window that follows gives competitors a right of audience, so the file has to anticipate objections before they land. Regulation 16 repeats that whole sequence on every annual renewal. Casino projects run on the Ministry of Tourism track instead, against the hotel and premises conditions in section 5 of the Casino Act.

On tax, the work is modelling before filing. The deposit and withdrawal levy has to be run against realistic transaction velocity. The current excise position has to be confirmed against the Gazette. Operators who skipped that step in 2025 learned the difference the hard way.