What changed on 1 January 2026
Two Acts passed in 2025 took effect together. The Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 17 of 2025 removed the withholding tax on betting winnings and suspended the 10% excise on stakes to 0%.
The Betting Levy Act No. 27 of 2025 introduced the 5% levy on deposits and withdrawals, and the Zambia Revenue Authority's Practice Note 1 of 2026 set out how operators collect it.
A win is now paid in full. A K50 stake at 3.00 returns K150 to the account with nothing deducted, where the old regime took a share of the K100 won.
The charge appears instead at the two doors of the account: K5 on a hundred-kwacha deposit and K5 on the same withdrawal.
The kwacha arithmetic of the Zambia betting levy
A punter who deposits K200, wins K400 and withdraws K600 pays K10 on the way in and K30 on the way out. That is K40 in total, about 10% of the net win. The same punter under the old regime paid withholding on the K400 won and nothing at the cashier.
The Zambia betting levy therefore favours punters who deposit once and bet many times on the balance, and it costs most for those who move money in and out weekly. A K50 deposit every Saturday and a K50 withdrawal every Monday pays K5 a week in levy whatever the slips do.
Mobile money carries its own separate levy on transactions, set out in the ZRA's mobile money note and the Airtel tariff guide, which sits on top for MTN and Airtel Money deposits.
What it means for the offers
Welcome offers are calculated on the deposit as credited. Where the operator deducts the levy before crediting, a K200 deposit credits K190 and a 100% match pays K190; where the operator charges K210 for a K200 credit, the match pays K200.
22Bet's 100% to K2,300 with 110 Aviator free flies, and BetWinner's 200% to K4,000, are quoted as each operator presents them.
The minimum deposits that open the offers, K20 at BetWinner and Paripesa among them, are unchanged by the Act; a deposit at exactly the floor should be checked against the credited amount.
Bonus winnings withdrawn after a rollover carry the 5% at the withdrawal, so K1,000 of cleared bonus lands as K950.
Licensed against offshore under the levy
The levy is collected by operators licensed under the Betting Control Act and by casino licensees under the Tourism and Hospitality Act, which is the register BetWinner's CL-001099/7-2026 sits on. A brand without a Zambian licence collects no levy and answers to no Zambian board.
A punter who moves money weekly pays the levy many times at a licensee and nothing at an offshore brand; the complaint route is what the difference buys.
The Zambia home page prints the licence beside each ranked brand and the levy in the tax section, corrected on 1 January 2026. Readers of the levy post keep asking two things.
Questions about the levy
Is there still a tax on winnings in Zambia?
No. The Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 17 of 2025 took the withholding tax off winnings from 1 January 2026 and dropped the 10% excise on stakes to 0%. The Zambia betting levy at the cashier is the only charge a punter now pays.
Does the levy apply at offshore bookmakers?
The levy is collected by licensed operators on deposits into and withdrawals from betting accounts, as ZRA Practice Note 1 of 2026 sets out. A brand without a Zambian licence collects nothing and sits outside the Board's complaint route.