Musyoki Kimanthi
Q: I was playing a game of pool with my friends at a neighbourhood pub recently. We had an arrangement that whoever lost would buy the rest of us a round of beer. It was not long before we were rounded up by the police and threatened with prosecution for gambling. Is it true there is a law curtailing fun with friends?
A: According to Section 2, the interpretation section of the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act, ‘to bet’ means to wager or stake any money or valuable thing by or on behalf of any person or expressly or impliedly to undertake, promise or agree to wager or state by or on behalf of any person, any money or valuable thing on a horse race or other race, fight, game, sport, lottery or exercise or any other event or contingency.
Friends’ arrangement
Can one, therefore, say that the arrangement between the friends fell under the meaning of ‘betting’ under the Act? If so, then their actions should have been in compliance with the law or else they would be in big trouble.
Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act, Cap 131 is an Act of Parliament designed to regulate and control such and all related activities through licensing of betting and gaming premises, imposition and recovery of tax and authorising of public lotteries.
Many jurisdictions either ban or heavily control gambling activities. The involvement of governments through regulation and taxation has led to a close connection between many governments and gaming organisations where legal gambling provides significant government revenue, such as Monaco and Macau. The first recorded signs of a lottery are from the Chinese Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 BC. They are believed to have helped finance major government projects like the Great Wall of China. In the Netherlands, lottery was used to raise money for the poor, build dykes and town defences and to free sailors from slavery in Arab countries.
Fighting poverty
The Kenya Charity Sweepstake is set up under an Act of Parliament to raise funds for the fight against poverty, illiteracy and disease.
Any person who wishes to engage in lottery, gaming and gambling is required to obtain a licence or permit from the Betting Control and Licensing Board. A licence states the precise location and extent of the premises to which it relates and is also endorsed with every condition imposed by the Board.
The licence must be prominently displayed at the place of business to which the public have access. Failure to comply with this requirement attracts a fine not exceeding Sh3,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both.
Some of the common offences under this law which most people are likely to fall for include where an owner or occupier or a temporary user of a premises uses or permits it to be used for unlicensed betting purposes or advances or receives money for the purpose of establishing the business of unlicensed betting premises, among others. The penalty prescribed for such offences is a fine not exceeding Sh10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both.
Betting illegalities
It is also an offence to bet in unlicensed betting premises and the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both. Most religious authorities generally disapprove gambling because of the adverse social consequences. Studies show that although many people participate in gambling for recreation or to gain an income, gambling, like any behaviour which involves variation in brain chemistry, can become a psychologically addictive and harmful behaviour.
Therefore, the policemen on the beat must have been guided by the provisions of the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act.
