Betting Control and Licensing Board

What this authority does

Kenya has one of the highest rates of sports betting participation in Africa, built almost entirely on mobile phones and on mobile money rather than cards. Licensing is handled by a board established under legislation that predates the online market by decades, and reform to replace it with a modernised authority has been a long-running process.

The defining feature of the Kenyan market is tax and its volatility. Excise duty on stakes and withholding tax on winnings have both been introduced, raised, removed and reinstated over a short period, and operators have suspended or restructured their Kenyan businesses in response. Any assessment of the market has to be dated, because the fiscal position changes from one finance act to the next.

The board has also been active on advertising, imposing approval requirements and restrictions on when and how betting may be promoted, following public concern about the volume of gambling advertising aimed at young people.

Licences it issues

• Bookmaker licence
• Public lottery licence
• Casino licence
• Gaming machine licence

What supervision concentrates on

• Licensing of betting and gaming
• Advertising approval
• Age verification requirements
• Taxation compliance alongside the revenue authority

Markets on file under this authority