Strict measures await betting, lottery industry operators in Nairobi 

By , April 10, 2025

Nairobi County Assembly has moved to address the betting menace by introducing a raft of measures that will see owners of premises used for public gaming face a fine of up to Sh1 million or a five-year imprisonment. 

That is if the shops are near a school, religious institution or a residential estate. 

The action will be taken if a new bill by the Nairobi City County Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act, 2023, sponsored by Ngara MCA Chege Mwaura is passed into law. 

The proposed law seeks to establish the Nairobi City County Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Control Board, which shall be responsible for licensing all betting, gaming and lottery activities in the county. 

In 2021, a similar amendment to the law that sought to restrict gambling to five-star hotels was quashed by the court. 

The new bill further highlights specific regulations for gaming and totalisators premises and other forms of gaming within the county. 

“Close to 80 per cent of the betting in Kenya is happening in Nairobi that is why we are pushing for more public participation this time round, to make the betting companies be compelled to offer psychosocial support to the societies they operate in,” said Mwaura. 

Additionally, it gives the board power to authorise prize competitions and public lotteries within the county. 

The purpose of the bill according to Chege is to help regulate betting and gaming activities in informal settlements apart from helping the county create jobs and raise revenue collections. 

Gaming machine operators and owners of premises from which they operate are the biggest casualties as the county targets to make the activity an expensive venture. 

Part of the bill states that a person who being the owner, occupier or having the temporary use of a premise, establishes, operates, or permits the use of the premise, for public gaming without a licence, commits an offence, and is liable, on conviction to a fine not exceeding one million shillings, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both. 

Candidate for the position of IEBC commissioner, James Letangule responded to questions from members of the selection panel at a Nairobi hotel yesterday. PHOTO/Kenna Claude 

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