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{
    "id": 686674,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/686674/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 135,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Midiwo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 184,
        "legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
        "slug": "jakoyo-midiwo"
    },
    "content": "I thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Bill which is timely. As the House will remember, about three weeks ago, we stood down this Bill to try and establish a Select Committee which would inquire into and establish the facts about the betting and gaming industry. That was not to be in the wisdom of Members. That does not stop us from moving on because there is a problem. I want to thank the Leader of the Majority Party for having sponsored this Bill in an attempt to help the Government tap into monies raised by these unknown and dark markets. The Government has proposed certain requirements to enable it tax these people. This is an industry that has to be regulated, especially the new phenomenon of online betting. Despite what Members did in their wisdom, we are working on a Bill which will come here. This is not a very small industry. I want to thank Members for having supported Hon. Jude Njomo in his Banking (Amendment) Bill to cap interest rates. I also thank the President for assenting to the Bill. There is no country on earth that can thrive economically without the State having control of the financial markets; none whatsoever. We must ask whether we want individuals to have more money than the State. Again, that would be a mafia State. If you have a scenario where a group or individuals have more money than the State, they will buy security and do anything they wish. Let me thank the Governor and the administration of Kajiado County. Two days ago they did something very nice. They took slot machines out of people’s premises. We have a scenario where the slot machines are all over the country and street corners and people bet with as little as Kshs10 or Kshs20. Who is there to see that those people are not school kids or people squandering their meagre resources in the desire and attempt to get riches? The biggest thing about gambling that the State must deal with is addiction. Gambling is very addictive. Facts must be put on the table. I read a study a couple of days ago about the gambling menace all over the world. It is said that only 2.4 per cent of those who win anything survive. Everybody else, even if they won Kshs30 million, does not survive. Yesterday, I was on a late night TV show with a person who apparently won Kshs23 million from SportPesa. Only 2.4 per cent of such people succeed in life. So, we are dealing with something else except for the people who make money from it. This Bill will help the KRA. I will bring a raft of amendments because the Bill proposes too low figures. I will propose to amend Clause 3 of the Bill on betting tax to provide that the figure of 7 per cent goes up to 12.5 or 15 per cent. That is a tax proposed by the Government but we will take it up because I know we are taxing amounts we do not know. It is better to be on the side of the State than be on the side of people we do not know. The proposed new Section 44A(1) provides that:- “There shall be a tax known as the lottery tax chargeable at the rate of five per cent of the lottery turnover.” I will propose an amendment to take that to 12.5 per cent so that money can go to the hands of the State. There is no way we can fly every week to China to borrow money and yet there is a group of individuals mopping up our money. There is even a set of them who are said to be exporting money. If somebody tells you that he makes Kshs1 billion a month, then it means that he makes Kshs30 billion--- This is the case and yet the Eurobond, which has been very controversial in this country was only Kshs280 billion. It means there is an individual or a group of individuals making as much money as the money the Government is struggling to bring back into the country. We will deal with these people somehow and we ask them to come on board. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}