Ethiopia Plans Betting Relaunch After Audit Finds Br27.5B Owed
Ethiopia is preparing to bring back sports betting and digital lotteries after an audit put outstanding operator payments at Br27.5 billion ($168.3 million).
The review covers the licensed market from July 2023 through its suspension in December 2025. Ethiopian Lottery Service CEO Beza Girma confirmed the findings and said work was under way on a new system for the sector, according to Capital Ethiopia.
Operators transacted Br199 billion ($1.22 billion) during the period.
Operators Paid Br3.6B Out of Br30B Expected
The audit expected about Br30 billion ($183.6 million) in commissions from operators. Payments reached Br3.6 billion ($22.0 million). That leaves Br26.4 billion ($161.6 million) between expected and paid commissions. Put another way, only 12% of the expected commission was collected.
The Br27.5 billion headline number is not the same figure. Ethio Negari reported that the broader liability also contains penalties, licence-renewal charges and registration fees. Dash Betting alone accounts for Br8.64 billion ($52.9 million), close to one-third of the reported outstanding total.
The remaining debt is spread mainly across 10 other companies. Together, they account for about Br19 billion ($116.3 million) from the July 2023-December 2025 audit period.
One more number is worth pulling out of the audit. Expected commissions of Br30 billion ($183.6 million) were equal to about 15.1% of the Br199 billion ($1.22 billion) transacted amount reported for the same period.
Betting Licences Were Pulled in December
The shutdown came in two steps:
- On December 4, 2025, ELS suspended 22 sports betting agencies;
- All betting licences were revoked on December 15.
Banks and payment companies were involved as well. They were instructed to stop transactions connected with betting operators. Retail shops and online platforms were ordered to stop taking bets.
The ELS describes itself as the authority responsible for licensing and supervising private lottery businesses in Ethiopia. By July 2026, ELS said there was still no licensed sports betting operator working legally in the country. Authorities later extended enforcement to 38 betting businesses in August.
The ban did not remove betting from the market. Capital cited an investigation that put illegal betting transactions at Br20 billion ($122.4 million) in September 2026 alone. A separate figure for 2023 was Br4.7 billion ($28.8 million).
Those two numbers should not be treated as a like-for-like growth comparison because the periods are different.
Bottom Line
For now, ELS is talking about a return under a new system rather than a restoration of the old one. Beza Girma said the agency is working on tighter controls and new digital infrastructure.
A reopening date has not been announced. Neither has a new list of licensed operators.