Kenya Allows Family Members to Bar Relatives from Betting Under New Gambling Regulations
The government plans to introduce significant gambling regulations that give family members the power to go to the authorities and ask them to stop a relative from betting because of the financial threat it could be putting on the family or the gambler's wellbeing.
Something New in Regulations
These new rules are part of the new Gambling Control (Conduct of Gambling Operations) Regulations, 2026 - they were published on June 30, and now third parties can go to the Gaming Regulatory Authority of Kenya (GRAK) to get someone's betting account shut down. These regulations also give betting firms the power to close the accounts of people who show signs of struggling financially or who are betting in a way that's damaging their health. This is all because it could be a threat to public safety or the integrity of the betting itself.
Family members now have the right to go to the GRAK and say they think a relative is betting in a way that's a risk to the family or to the gambler themselves. They can ask GRAK to ban them from betting.
Getting with the Times
Till now, Kenyan law only let gamblers ask to be banned from betting for a set period, and all betting firms had to make it clear that they would do this on their websites. But now Kenya is joining a bunch of other countries like Belgium, Singapore and New Zealand where relatives or even the betting firms can step in and try to stop someone from betting when it's getting out of hand.
How It Works
Now that we have this new system, betting firms have to tell the GRAK within 24 hours if they decide to close someone's account, and they have to give a good reason for it. Then GRAK reviews this and tells the person involved. If a family member asks for someone to be banned from betting because it's causing them financial problems, GRAK will let the gambler know they can object to this before it gets approved or rejected. If its approved, GRAK will decide how long they get banned for and let all the betting firms know.
"A licensed operator may initiate exclusion where it reasonably believes that a gambler exhibits signs of compulsive or harmful gambling, is gambling beyond their apparent financial means," states Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi in the regulations.
The state of gambling in Kenya
"A family member or other interested party may apply to the Authority for the exclusion of a person where the person's gambling has caused or is likely to cause serious financial hardship, or the person poses a risk to dependants or family welfare," the regulations state.
We have to accept that in Kenya there's a serious gamble crisis - we have more young people betting than almost anywhere else in the world, including some of the bigger countries like Nigeria and South Africa. A poll found that 64% of Kenyans have placed a bet in the past 12 months, which is ahead of Ghana and South Africa. Also, a poll showed that Kenyans are spending sh1,825 on average every month on betting - that's a lot of money.
Only a tiny amount of people actually win, but the betting firms are making a lot of money from all these bets. And its not just the betting firms who are making a lot of money out of this - the government is too, from all the taxes they are collecting.
Even more tax on gamblers
The government has also increased tax on gambling to discourage it. Betting firms have to pay 15% tax on what they make, and 30% corporate tax on their profits, and an extra 16% income tax. The gamblers also have to pay 12.5% tax on every bet they place and 20% on top of any winnings. The idea is that this will make betting less profitable and so less tempting for people.
But, despite all of this, we still have lots of people struggling to find work and that is pushing them towards betting as a way to make money - fast. And with so many people now with smartphones and internet, it's easier than ever for them to place a bet.
