Ethiopia to Resume Sports Betting Under New Digital Regulatory Framework

The Ethiopian Lottery Service has announced that sports betting operations will resume under a new technology-backed regulatory system aligned with the "Digital Ethiopia 2030" strategy. Speaking to EBC, Director General Beza Girma explained that the suspension of betting services was part of reform measures to address severe financial and monitoring deficiencies in the sector. According to a draft audit report, registered operators handled 199 billion Birr in transactions and owed 30 billion Birr in commissions, but only paid 3.6 billion Birr, leaving 27.5 billion Birr in uncollected revenue. Notably, the sports betting company "Dashbet" accounts for 8.64 billion Birr of this outstanding debt. The Service confirmed that legal and administrative actions will be taken to recover the missing revenue once the final audit report is verified. Additionally, the agency terminated its digital lottery agreement with a private partner due to unmet obligations and is currently collaborating with security, financial, and tech institutions to curb illegal betting activities.