Kenya-based betting operator SportPesa has launched operations in neighboring Tanzania just as the Kenyan government prepares to impose crippling new taxes on SportPesa’s domestic operations.

On Tuesday, SportPesa announced that it had received a license to commence gaming operations from the Gaming Board of Tanzania (GBT). James Mbawe, who was appointed interim director of the GBT in January, called SportPesa’s launch a “great success for Tanzania because it will increase our visibility.”

Tanzania has a small but growing gaming industry encompassing everything from sports betting (land-based and online) to casinos to a national lottery, which is run by South Africa’s Gidani International.

Gaming operations are said to pump around TZS 1.5t (US $671m) into the local economy each year, constituting about 2-3% of Tanzania’s gross domestic product. Sports betting is the industry’s fastest growing gaming vertical, earning the government nearly TZS 22b in tax revenue in the 2015-16 fiscal year, TZ 6b more than the government earned from the entire gaming industry just five years ago.