Kenya

The Gambling Control Act 2025 came into force in late August 2025, overhauling Kenya's gambling regulation and establishing the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) to replace the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB); the GRA formally assumed all BCLB functions on 28 February 2026 and is rolling out an enforcement-heavy framework (≈200 staff, real-time monitoring, 30% local-ownership and high capital thresholds).

On tax, betting excise was cut to 5% (on deposits) and withholding tax on winnings to 5% in late 2025, though a draft 2026 Finance Bill proposes returning withholding to 20%. Online sports betting is a large, legal, licensed market (~99 licensed operators for 2025-2026), and horse racing at Ngong Racecourse (Jockey Club of Kenya) runs legally via tote pool betting.

The minimum age is 18. Prediction markets such as Polymarket fall outside any specific Kenyan regulatory classification and remain a grey market.

Kenyan betting sites have grown rapidly in number on the back of an uptake in mobile phone usage and more reliable internet access, and the gaming laws have now been rewritten to keep up. Regulation was sporadic and the law vague for decades. The industry has continued to grow regardless, and a bettor in Kenya has a range of licensed operators to choose from.

Local gambling laws allow Kenyan betting sites to hold government licences, so a number of licensed operators are headquartered in Kenya itself. In addition to local betting sites, a large number of sites headquartered in other countries also accept Kenyan customers.

Kenyan Betting Sites

The vast majority of online gambling activity in Kenya involves sports betting. The best-known Kenyan sports betting site is SportPesa, which returned to the market in 2020 under a licence held by a new operator, Milestone Games, after disappearing from its home market for more than a year. Betin, formerly another major local player, withdrew from Kenya alongside SportPesa in 2019, after a dispute with the government over licence renewals and an excise tax on betting stakes that had been raised from 10% to 20%.

Local vs. Overseas Betting Sites

Operators headquartered in Kenya can accept Kenyan shilling deposits through mobile Paybill payments, which operators based elsewhere generally cannot.

Additionally, local sites accept wagers through a variety of means including online at their websites, via SMS messaging and through local phone service in some cases.

International betting sites that target Kenya without a local licence now fall foul of the licensing requirements of the Gambling Control Act 2025. Some international sites do accept wagers from Kenyans despite that licensing requirement.

Foreign gambling sites also provide a much larger variety of online casino games and poker if you’re interested in activities other than sports betting. The downside to betting with non-local betting sites in Kenya is making deposits is more difficult and customer service people are not located locally.

Gambling Laws in Kenya

For years the laws regulating online gambling in Kenya were very hit or miss. That modernization is now done: the Gambling Control Act 2025 replaced the old framework and the Gambling Regulatory Authority took over from the Betting Control and Licensing Board at the end of February 2026. The changes along the way included a controversial tax hike and repeated proposals for tighter control over the industry.

The oldest piece of legislation governing betting in Kenya is the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Order, 1966 which is found in Chapter 131 of An Act of Parliament.

The Betting Control and Licensing Board was established by the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Order in 1966 and remained the primary entity responsible for overseeing gaming of all forms in Kenya until February 2026. The board’s duties include ensuring gambling is conducted honestly and in accordance with the laws by licensing and regulating gambling establishments, authorizing lotteries and putting an end to illegal gambling activities.

The board’s mission is “to ensure that gaming is conducted honestly and competitively with minimum costs but maximum contribution to society, and that it is free from criminal activities.”

The previous gaming laws were more than 40 years old and had become outdated in light of an industry that outgrew them in both volume and technology. Going back to the early 1990s, growth in the betting industry outpaced Kenya's legal framework for decades.

A student study conducted by the University of Nairobi School of Law in 2013 found that the industry has far outpaced existing betting regulations in Kenya, which are described as “weak and obsolete.” That assessment held true until the Gambling Control Act 2025 finally rewrote Kenyan gambling law.

High Taxes Introduced, Other Measures Discussed

Kenya’s Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich submitted a budget proposal in the first quarter of 2017 which among other things, called for raising the national gambling tax on Kenyan betting sites and other forms of gambling to 50% of revenue. This increase was to be applied to gambling operators in addition to the 30% corporate tax they already pay.

Prior to that proposal, tax rates on gambling in Kenya ranged from 5% to 15% depending on the activity in question. The new proposal sought to increase those rates to 50% across the board for all forms of gambling.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta rejected the proposal, but betting operators were stunned when the President signed a new version of the bill calling for a 35% gambling revenue tax. Although the new bill called for a lower tax rate, many Kenyan betting operators still claimed it would put them out of business.

Nonetheless, the bill was signed into law to take effect on January 1st of 2018. Major Kenyan betting site SportPesa announced it would shut down its Kenyan operations and cancel all sponsorships on January 1st if lawmakers did not reconsider the bill on the basis that the new tax would make it impossible for them to stay in business.

SportPesa later clarified that the business was not exiting Kenya entirely, but they did follow through with the threat to cancel sponsorships when the measure into force on 1 January. SportPesa dropped many sponsorships, including the likes of the Kenyan Premier League, Football Kenya Federation and many more. One football club announced that the loss of the sponsorship would cause them to miss the CAF Champions League due to a lack of funding.

There has also been pushback from the public at large. A survey conducted shortly after the tax hike was signed into law found that a majority of Kenyans do not like the new gambling tax and have expressed concerns over how it will impact local sports teams which receive sponsorship money from firms like SportPesa.

The survey found that 60% of respondents disagreed with the government tax hike. Interestingly 69% of respondents weren’t even aware of the tax hike prior to taking the survey. Only 22% of respondents expressed support of the tax hike, primarily on moral grounds.

Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo was also vocal in calling for changes to Kenya's gambling laws, pushing an amendment bill to properly regulate gambling and to put an end to foreigners owning gambling licenses. Those debates were eventually overtaken by the Gambling Control Act 2025.

Midiwo has received some pushback in his efforts from other politicians and large segments of the population. Giddy Loftus of Kenya was especially critical of Midiwo’s efforts when he said:

“Did Midiwo really do good research before tabling the bill? All this hullabaloo about betting...let people do what they wish. People are so concerned about how others live their lives.”

A New Gambling Law Now in Force

Kenya has now completed a complete revamp of its outdated gambling laws. After the Gaming Bill 2019 stalled, the Gambling Control Act 2025 modernized the gambling landscape by regulating online betting sites and establishing a new licensing process under the Gambling Regulatory Authority.

The new law looks promising at a glance, although high fees and local-ownership requirements for operators run the risk of disrupting what could otherwise be a functional free market of gaming sites. The issues of tax rates and problem gambling also need to be discussed, but generally it seems things are moving in a positive direction.

You can read more about the latest proposals for Kenya here. We will update this page as new developments emerge.