Betting in Kenya has become a money spinner so much so a good number of its population is burning holes in their pockets by indulging in these invidious activities. The government is determined to tackle this menace hammer and tong. Kenya has waged a war on betting in the recent days. The ministry of interior, as latest as this week, ordered the deportation of 17 foreign directors of betting firms operating in the country on the fringe side of the law of the land. This comes close on the heels of the diktat to the telecom company-Safraricom-to stop processing payments for sport betting firms.
SportPesa, a sport betting online company, has spread its tentacles in the length and breadth of the East African nation in recent times, riding on the back of enthusiasm for sports. The government estimate is that a combined revenue of 200 billion shillings (US$2 billion) was the turnover of this industry last year, up from 2 billion shillings five years ago. Many within the country have expressed the social impact of betting, which has affected particularly poorer sections of the people and the youth. In May this year, Kenya introduced new gambling regulations, including banning advertising outdoors and on social media. Recently, on July 1 that the regulator – Betting Control and Licensing Board -had declined to renew licenses of 19 firms while it reviewed their operations and shareholding structures.
The so called gaming companies operate through telecom network. Using mobile phones, the telecom companies take bets from people and disperse the payments to those winners whose predictions come true in the proportion of odds that have assigned to each client. There are many countries, which have legalized sports betting and made it transparent. In most of the developing countries, administrations do not allow betting on account of the negative impact on the society.
