Businessman Anthony Kimani appointed Chair of Betting Control Board

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery

NAIROBI: Businessman Anthony Kimani Kung’u has been appointed Chairman of Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB).

Kung’u, who will serve for three years, will succeed Prof Musili Wambua whose term ended in January.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery made the appointment in a gazette notice dated January 22.

Kung’u has been the CEO of Basic IT Education for Schools and had worked with Lynx International Kenya Limited.

His appointment ends wrangles that pitted his predecessor Wambua over claims he could not hold two public offices. Wambua is an Associate Dean at the University of Nairobi’s School of Law.

The Association of Human Resource Practitioners in Kenya had contested his position.

As the chairman of BCLB, Kung’u will be in control of the Sh5 billion betting, lotteries and gaming industry that is on the increase.

BCLB, which is a government agency under the ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, is tasked with controlling and licensing of betting and gaming premises, recovery of tax on betting and gaming, and authorising public lotteries.

Projections are that gross gambling revenue in Kenya would rise to Sh2.2 billion up from Sh2 billion that was realised in 2014.

The projections were contained in a 2015 report by auditing firm PwC, which added the revenues is expected to rise to Sh2.9 billion in 2019 as more players enter the industry.

In the current scenario, some of the big names in the industry are in sports betting. They include Sportpesa, which in 2014 invested Sh400 million, Oxygen 8, Betin, mCheza and Betway.

There are also SMS lotteries offered by mobile telecommunication companies, online gambling sites and the oldest, Kenya Charity Sweepstake.

At present, the function of betting has been devolved as per the law. A disagreement on roles that the national and county governments should play in licensing the players in the sector has delayed the transfer.

The Transitional Authority formed an interagency technical committee to resolve the dispute with the team to allow the national government to continue licencing and regulating casinos and other forms of gambling while counties carry out supervisory role.

Counties were also allowed to license business premises for national lotteries and issuing of pool table permits within their areas of jurisdiction.