Uganda’s government is mounting a state-run takeover of the nation’s gambling industry, according to local media.

On Friday, the Daily Monitor reported that Uganda’s finance minister Matia Kasaija (pictured) had written a letter to the National Gaming Board Uganda (NGBU) affirming the government’s January statement that it would issue no new gambling licenses while letting existing licenses expire without being renewed.

The government subsequently clarified that its new policy applied only to international operators who’d set up shop in Uganda but repatriated the bulk of their revenue to their home territories. But in a letter dated April 24, NGBU chairman Manzi Tumubweine sought further guidance from the government as to the specifics of its plans.

Tumubweine’s letter noted that the NGBU had received 60 applications from gambling operators for licensing in 2019 and that the NGBU had “evaluated them accordingly.” Kasaija’s May 14 letter appears to have brushed aside these concerns, instructing the NGBU to “stop licensing of gaming and betting with immediate effect.”