More than 2,000 employees working for various betting companies in Kenya have been given dismissal notices. An employee of one of the major betting companies informed us that they held a meeting Monday morning where they we informed that they will go home at the end of this week if the government will not reopen their paybill numbers.
Sportpesa, which employs more than 400 workers is likely to shut down completely after they failed to reach into agreement with the government. The company has already notified its workers that they would be relieved of their duties. If the company closes down, or Mahia,AFC Leopard and Kenya Premier League will be without a sponsor, Everton and Hull City will suffer too.
Sportpesa directly employs 400 workers and more than 20,000 indirectly, if it’s closed down, the consequences will be felt.
The most worrying thing is that most radio stations, newspapers and TV stations receive significant revenue from betting companies through advertisements, in coming weeks, nearly all of them will sack some of its employees. Safaricom will also report a drop in their revenue—the company makes over Ksh 10 billion annually from betting related activities.
A source from Sportpesa intimated to us that for the four days the company has been out of business, they have lost Ksh400 million. The betting company makes most of its money from jackpots which occur during weekends.
One would argue that since some betting companies are still operational, all gamblers will shift to them, which is not the case. What makes Sportpesa more popular than other betting companies is their amazing jackpots. Even if Betlion comes with Ksh 350 million jackpot, their bonuses are not as appealing as those of Sportpesa.Until they review their jackpot bonuses, people will still hold on until Sportpesa resumes its operations.
