- By July 2019, the betting industry in the country is set to undergo radical changes
- Matiang’i divulged plans by the government to suspend all betting agency licences until the firms provide proof of their tax remittance compliance
- He observed the betting culture was becoming something of a disease among Kenyan youth with 76% of them heavily involved in the practice
- Up to 500,000 youth are heavily in debt courtesy of unregulated betting
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has revealed plans to suspend betting licences for firms operating in Kenya from July 1, 2019 after revealing damning statistics on the gambling practice in the country.
The CS briefed stakeholders in the betting industry on Monday, April 1, where he revealed up to 76% of youth in the country were hooked to betting, with majority viewing it as a way to make a living.

“ Seventy six per cent of young people are actively involved in betting and 54% of those actively involved in betting are low income earners,” he said.
Matiang’i said he would push for tough legislation aimed at not only regulating betting among the youth but also drive rogue betting firms out of business.
During the meeting, it also emerged majority of the youth had run themselves into bad credit with many being listed in the Credit Reference Bureau Kenya (CRB) simply because the loans they took all ended in the hands of betting firms.

“We have about 500,000 of our young people who have been blacklisted by these lending agencies who borrowed and are unable to pay. And they borrowed to bet. We are prepared to take any measures to ensure this situation is regulated,” the CS added.
The betting industry in the country has always been a contentious issue, with the biggest gaming firm locally, Sportpesa, briefly involved in a tussle with the government in 2018 over hefty tax.
As TUKO.co.ke reported earlier, Sportpesa stopped a KSh 600 million local sports sponsorship following the imposition of higher gaming taxes in 2018 and this severely hurt various local sports entities including football clubs and the rugby union.
Treasury, however, caved in to pressure from betting firms and a proposal to cut down gaming tax from 35% of revenue to 15% was tabled.
Before then, betting firms were only being taxed 7.5% of their revenue.

Source: www.tuko.co.ke

At least they are involved in something.

All these ads you see Nigerians sharing on NL are games they get from Kenyans. Those guys are good mbok.

Girls that play sport bet are the best. God will continue to bless them for me.

Unlimitk:
At least they are involved in something.

My brother and it's legal oo

If you try suspending betting in Nigeria, the rate at which crime will shoot up eh