Withdraw your stake before midnight or lose it, state tells gamblers

Gamblers at a betting shop in Nairobi. [Courtesy]

Gamblers have until Friday midnight to withdraw all the cash deposited in the accounts of various betting firms or lose their money.

This comes after Ministry of Interior directed mobile telecommunication companies on Thursday to close the betting firms’ accounts within 48 hours.

 “This is to authorise you to allow gamers of the affected companies to withdraw any funds deposited within 48 hours from the date hereof, and duly notify them of the action,” a statement from the ministry to telecommunication companies read in parts.

Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has accused betting firms of failure to observe regulations required for them to obtain new licences for the period beginning July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020.

He blamed the gambling firms for wrecking the livelihoods of many Kenyans at the expense of capitalism.

"We are not going to entertain these businesses wrecking the lives of our children. We have to regulate them," said Matiang’i.

Before the Thursday directive, the ministry had also written to telecommunication companies, directing them to ground betting firms’ pay-bills and shortcodes.

Famous betting firms SportPesa, Betin and Betway have been affected. Also affected are Betyetu, Betpawa, Premierbet, Lucky 2 U, 1XBet, Mozzartbet, Dafabet, World Sport Bet, Atari Gaming, Palmsbet and Bet Boss. Others include Elitebet, Bungabet, Cysabet, Nestbet, Easybet, Kick Off, Millionaire Sports Bet, Kenya Sports Bet and Eastleighbet.

The government and betting companies have been involved in a push-and-pull with the former insisting that all firm must be vetted afresh to sanitise the sector.