Kenya’s betting operators are popping the champagne corks after the government approved a significant reduction in their recently hiked betting taxes.

On Friday, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that he’d affixed his signature to the Finance Bill 2018 following its passage in what local media described as a “chaotic” session of Parliament on Thursday.

The Finance Bill makes a number of significant changes to the nation’s governance, but for our purposes, the primary item is the reduction of betting operators’ tax rate from 35% of gross gambling revenue to 15%, while imposing a new 20% tax on bettors’ winnings.

The government claims the new split tax regime will still generate SH30b (US$297m) per year for the government’s coffers but opposition MPs spent a good portion of Thursday’s session hurling insults at National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, one of the prime movers in pushing for the gambling tax reduction.