Reviewed by Peris WambuKenya sports betting writer
Published 31 August 2026
Betting in Kenya is regulated by the Gambling Regulatory Authority, created by the Gambling Control Act 2025 to replace the Betting Control and Licensing Board, and every operator you deposit with should be able to show you a Kenyan licence issued under it.
The Gambling Control Act 2025 was enacted by Parliament on 7 August 2025 and came into force on 26 August 2025. It is the law every Kenyan sportsbook now answers to.
The Authority issues separate licences for bookmaking, totalisators, pool betting, casinos, national and public lotteries, prize competitions and bingo, and separate ones again for online bookmaking, online lottery and online casino. Equipment manufacture and testing, software supply and key employees each need their own licence.
That matters when you check a site, because a retail licence is not an online licence. An operator with a shop licence and no online permission is not licensed for what you are doing on your phone.
The Kenyan ownership rule
An applicant has to be a body corporate with at least 30 per cent of its shares held by Kenyan citizens, and it has to hold gambling funds in Kenyan bank accounts. That is a protection rather than paperwork. Money held locally is money a Kenyan regulator can reach when a payout goes wrong.
How to check an operator
Scroll to the footer. A properly licensed Kenyan operator names its licence and the Gambling Regulatory Authority there, not only a foreign regulator such as Curacao. If the only regulator on the page is offshore, you are betting with a site that answers to nobody in Kenya.
Then check the advertising. The Act requires advertisements to be approved, bars enticing advertising, restricts broadcast advertising between six in the morning and ten at night other than during live sport, and requires a fifth of aired advertising time to carry responsible gambling messaging. An operator running around those rules is telling you how it will treat a disputed bet.
One transitional point. Existing licence holders were allowed to keep operating under their current licences and conditions until expiry while annual licence processing was suspended, and the changeover was scheduled to complete by the end of February 2026. If a status looks ambiguous, confirm it with the regulator before you deposit.
Where to bet: Kenyan football and rugby are priced in shillings by licensed operators such as SportPesa and Betika, both regulated in Kenya, where the Gambling Regulatory Authority took over from the Betting Control and Licensing Board in 2025, funded by M-Pesa and Airtel Money. Verification is the usual reason a first payout is slow, so upload your identity documents when you open the account. Compare the same market at two books before you stake. Our guide to the best betting sites in Kenya covers licensing and payout times, and there is more in Kenya betting guides from AXN Sports. 18+. Gamble responsibly.
