SportPesa, Betin among 19 betting firms facing closure

19 betting companies, 13 casinos and six lotteries now risk closure after the team constituted to review their licenses failed to green-light their operations in the country.

The companies; including SportPesa, Betin and Betway, also risk having their senior non-Kenyan managers deported in the crackdown.

This comes a little over a month after the constitution of a multi-agency team to probe the licenses of all betting and gaming companies in the country.

The firms whose licenses have since been canceled include, SportPesa, Betin, Betway, Betpawa, PremierBet, Lucky2u, 1xBet, MozzartBet, Dafabet, World Sports Betting, Atari Gaming, Palms Bet and Betboss among others.

The firms are said to have failed to prove that they were tax compliant as required by the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB).

Among the findings of the Board during the vetting is that the companies made a cumulative amount of Ksh.204 billion last year but paid only Ksh.4 billion in taxes.

Betting firm Betin has however now gone to court seeking to have back its license.

All betting licenses in the country stood suspended and fresh application sought by July 1, 2019 following a stakeholders meeting between Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and representatives of the firms in April.