Betting: SportPesa goes live in Tanzania

The Government of the Federal Republic of Tanzania has welcomed and pledged its full support to leading gaming firm SportPesa after it officially rolled out its operations in the country in Dar-es-Salaam yesterday.

SportPesa Tanzania was launched at a colourful ceremony at Hyatt Plaza, with the platform going live at 11:55am East African Time, with the company immediately announcing a TSh50m (Sh2.2million) sponsorship for the Serengeti Boys football team that will play at a youth tournament in Gabon.

Chief Guest and Tanzania Minister for Information, Culture and Sport, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe welcomed the company as a valuable partner in sports development.

“Thank you for seeing enormous potential in Tanzania, not only to promote sport, but also to create employment and enthusiasm in sports.

“I assure you of my ministry’s support, karibu nchi ya michezo (welcome to the country of sports).

“This is an important and unique chance to develop sports and we will not let this opportunity go,” Mwakyembe told the gathering.

The minister attended the function having driven 600km from Dodoma to Dar overnight after presenting the budget proposals for his docket in Parliament.

He explained that SportPesa could not have chosen to operate in his country at a better time.

“I thank the MPs for being hard on me. SportPesa is my beacon of hope for developing sport in TZ and maybe next year, they will not give me a hard time,” Mwakyembe said. [Dar es Salaam]