Ethiopia reaffirms its sports betting ban as ELS warns scammers are exploiting the shutdown

The Ethiopian Lottery Service (ELS) has said there are still no licensed sports betting operators in Ethiopia, seven months after regulators revoked every operating licence in the sector. For PSPs, the point is simple: when a market is formally shut but social media and messaging channels keep circulating betting offers, fraudsters tend to move faster than the compliance teams.

1. In a public notice posted on its official Telegram channel last week, ELS said: “At present, there is no sports betting organisation operating in Ethiopia with a legal licence.” The regulator also warned citizens not to send money to illegal betting services, websites, social media pages, or other money-collection channels.
2. ELS said the warning was triggered by information circulating on social media and other communication channels from some sports betting organisations. It added that dealing with unlicensed operators could expose users’ money and personal information to serious risks, and that consumers would struggle to recover losses because these companies “are not legally licensed.”
3. The regulator directed the public to report illegal operators through short code 9695. It also said it would continue working with government institutions to protect “the public interest, financial integrity, and the rule of law.”
4. The shutdown traces back to November 2025, when Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) announced the arrest of 24 people described as owners and accomplices of sports betting companies. NISS alleged that they had concealed more than ETB100 billion ($620.5 million) in government revenue, with funds moving abroad through cryptocurrency exchanges and hawala-style transfer networks. Domestic payment aggregators were also accused of hiding transaction volumes behind client confidentiality rules.
5. ELS then suspended the licences of 22 sports betting firms on 4 December 2025, citing information received from NISS and the arrests. Eleven days later, it revoked all remaining sports betting licences. The regulator’s directive did not directly reference the arrests, the 24 suspects, or the ETB100 billion figure; instead, it pointed to a nationwide review of the betting and financial sector and concerns over illegal financial transfers threatening national security.

For high-risk operators and payment providers, Ethiopia is now a familiar pattern in a harsher form: the licence regime is gone, but the demand, the marketing, and the scams have not politely exited the stage with it. The regulator has not commented publicly beyond the notice, and the formal position remains that no licensed sports betting operator is active in the country.