Retail Networks Underpin East Africa iGaming Growth as Mobile Money Transactions Scale

While East Africa’s iGaming expansion is routinely cast as a mobile money phenomenon, fresh retail and agent-density mapping shows physical shops, kiosks and cash points remain the decisive infrastructure. iGaming Future reports that tighter licensing and tax changes are pushing operators beyond Kenya into Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, yet the data underscores that many mobile transactions still originate with cash handed over at a physical location.

Denis Mudene Ngabirano of Uganda’s National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board states that close to 99 percent of the country’s gaming activity runs through mobile money. The distinction matters: a substantial share of that activity begins when a punter deposits shillings at a kiosk, walks past a betting shop or cashes out winnings at the same duka where airtime and household goods are bought. The app serves as interface; the retail network supplies the rail.

In the Financial Year to March 2026, M-Pesa processed KSh41.68 trillion (£241bn/US$322bn) in transactions, a volume up 25 percent year on year. Kenya’s Central Bank counted 602,470 registered mobile money agents by June 2026, an increase of more than 100,000 agents in three months.

Tax Reform Targets the Observable Layer

Kenya’s Finance Act 2025 shifted excise duty from the wager to the deposit, cutting the headline rate from 15 percent to five percent while expanding the taxable base. Operators continue to pay 15 percent tax on Gross Gaming Revenue with withholding on withdrawals. The Parliamentary Budget Office projects collections will roughly double from KSh5.4 billion to KSh11.4 billion, precisely because the deposit point captures activity the wager point missed. Uganda’s single 30 percent tax on gaming revenue and Tanzania’s new five percent excise on stakes, effective this month, follow the same logic of taxing at the more traceable transaction layer.

Trendtype’s mapping of some 25,000 retail stores against relative income grids, built on satellite imagery and recent censuses, supplies the granular view licensing and telecom data cannot. Ben Longman, Trendtype CEO, explains that commercial hotspots track major routes and transport hubs far more reliably than decennial census figures, which struggle with informal housing and income. Jason Gibson, SportPesa Chief Commercial Officer, adds that operators cannot apply a one-size-fits-all approach and must earn their place market by market.

Where the Risk Lies

Formalisation narrows the historic advantage smaller, less-traceable kiosks once held as organised retail and regulated agents expand. This convergence aids regulators who, like Ngabirano, follow the money through banks, payment providers and telecoms. From more than thirty years advising operators, investors and regulators on gaming and securities matters, I see this as an inflection point: treating retail footprint as a strategic asset rather than a payments afterthought positions client-partners more defensibly under transaction-focused tax regimes. The next five years of channel mix will be decided by which shopfronts and agent counters operators secure first.

Reporting: iGaming Future