Ethiopia, as the second most populous country in Africa, still has a strictly regulated gambling market, with online gambling being completely banned.
The only legal form of gambling in the country is the traditional lottery business operated by the state-owned National Lottery Administration of Ethiopia, including sports lotteries and instant lotteries. According to the Ministry of Finance data in 2023, the national gambling market size is about 320 million US dollars, but all from offline channels.
The current legal system explicitly prohibits any form of online gambling activities. Article 658 of the Penal Code revised in 2016 lists operating or participating in online gambling as a criminal offense, with violators facing up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 US dollars. The telecommunications regulatory authority regularly blocks international gambling websites, and more than 120 foreign gambling platforms have been banned by 2024.
Despite this, market research shows that about 8% of the urban population aged 18-35 still access international gambling websites through VPNs, mainly betting on European football events such as the English Premier League and Serie A, with an estimated annual turnover of 40 million US dollars.
This underground market is mainly provided by gambling operators from Kenya and Europe through local agent networks, with payments mostly made through cryptocurrencies or underground banks.
It is worth noting that with the demonstration effect of the legalization of online gambling in neighboring countries such as Kenya and Tanzania, there has been a call for opening up the market in the Ethiopian business community in recent years, but religious groups and conservative legislators strongly oppose it.
The Ministry of Finance's consultation document released in 2025 for the first time mentioned the "possibility of studying the regulatory framework," suggesting that the policy might be relaxed, but experts expect no substantial breakthrough in the short term.
For international operators, this potential market with a population of 120 million remains in a wait-and-see phase, and its future development will depend on the government's balance between economic benefits and social risks.
