Gambling act Kenya: who licenses betting now
The gambling act Kenya passed in 2025 closed the Betting Control and Licensing Board and moved its staff, assets and duties to the GRA. Licences granted under the old law stay valid until they expire, and each holder then applies afresh under the new rules.
Bookmaking now runs on separate permits for on-course, off-course and online business. Part VIII of the Act deals with online play, where the GRA issues online bookmaker, online casino and online lottery licences.
A licensee has to be a company with at least 30% of its shares held by Kenyan citizens. It banks betting money through an account in Kenya and keeps a customer care centre in the country.
Licences come from one body. Premises permits come from the counties.
A foreign operator that serves Kenyans without a GRA licence commits an offence. The ceiling is KSh 50 million for a company, and KSh 2 million or two years in jail for an individual.
The GRA list pairs each brand with its company and a BK number, the same numbers shown on our Kenyan bookmaker line-up. The Gambling Control Act 2025 Kenya text sits on gra.go.ke as a PDF that opens at page 357 of the Gazette supplement.
Gambling act 2025 Kenya rules on your account
The gambling act 2025 Kenya bettors now play under treats the betting account like a client account. Under section 73, a bookmaker takes a bet only when your balance covers it and you approve the stake, and section 71 puts the smallest online stake at KSh 20.
Section 74 bans credit: a licensee cannot lend you money or act for a lender, on pain of a fine of up to KSh 5 million or five years in jail. Free bets and bonus bets stay allowed in the ordinary course of business.
Your balance can only be used for your bets, paid out at your request or charged bank fees, under section 75. Section 76 keeps player money in a bank account or mobile money, and any shortfall must be topped up from the operator's own funds within 30 days of the month's end.
Two clocks protect idle money. A cash win reaches your account within two days under section 70, and an account with no activity for three months has its balance sent back to you under section 77.
Betting ads on TV, radio and billboards
Betting ads need the GRA's approval before they run, and section 87 bans whole styles of promotion. Celebrities and other prominent people cannot front a campaign, and a bookmaker cannot sponsor a sports event, trade fair or show to advertise gambling.
- Each advert states that gambling is addictive, tells players to play responsibly and keeps children out.
- TV and radio spots are banned from 6 am to 10 pm, except during a live sporting event.
- Billboards stay away from schools and other learning institutions.
- 20% of every aired advert goes to responsible gambling messages.
The Cabinet Secretary can add detail through regulations: where signs go up, which words an advert must carry and which media it cannot use. Breaking these rules is a criminal offence for the advertiser.
The broadcast ban covers 16 hours of every day. Live sport is the only gap in it, and a bookmaker advert on daytime TV outside a live match is worth reporting to the GRA.
Gambling regulations Kenya added in June 2026
The gambling regulations Kenya needed to put the Gambling Control Act 2025 Kenya passed into practice arrived in June 2026. Legal Notice 111 holds the licensing rules and Legal Notice 112 the conduct of gambling operations.
Under Legal Notice 111, an online bookmaker pays KSh 5 million to apply and KSh 50 million for a licence that now lasts one year. Legal Notice 112 sets a self-exclusion period of at least six months, with no early exit.
Disputes follow a set route. A complaint goes to the GRA first, by its free line on 0800-723-770 or its complaints form. Under section 80, either side in an online betting dispute can take it to the Gambling Appeals Tribunal within 14 days of the dispute.
A Tribunal ruling can go on to the High Court, again inside 14 days of the decision. Save the slip number, the time of the bet and screenshots, since each step runs on a short clock.
Fourteen days is short. A dispute over a Saturday slip runs out on the second Saturday after it.
Help lines and the self-exclusion route for every market sit together on our responsible gambling page.