A total of 19 betting companies may be closed by the government. According to Interior CS Fred Matiangi,the President has given his ministry the green light to deal with the betting industry so as to bring back sanity among the youth.
“The presidency has given us the green light to deal with the industry of gambling that is now turning into rogue outfits”
“Our decision is going to shake the sector for sure, but we have to save our country” Okeng’o said.
The Targetted firms are
- Sportpesa
- Betin
- Betway
- Betpawa
- Premierbet
- Lucky 2 U
- 1x Bet
- Mozzartbet
- Dafa Bet
- World Sport Bet
- BetBoss
- Betyetu
- Atari Gaming
- Elitebet
- Bungabet
- Kickoff
- Millionare Sportbet
- Eastleighbet
- Easybet
- Kenya Sport Bet
Some of the betin companies from this list will be closed down.Already,Betin has become the first betting company to suffer after the government refused to renew its license.The company has since moved to court to protest the action.
In a recent media briefing,Matiangi noted:
“Our country has to learn how to live truthfully.. Otherwise are we going to tell our children that theres no reason to work hard because you can just spend Ksh20 and become a millionaire?? “
It also emerged that up to 500,000 of young people blacklisted by credit reference bureaus took mobile money loans to bet…
What shocked the Betting Control and Licensing board (BCLB) Most is that the companies made a cumulative 204 billion last year but paid only 4 billion in taxes with the remaining amount wired to foreign accounts.