The Nairobi City County Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Control Board looks to promote the enforcement of a number of policies related to gambling activities

The Nairobi Gaming and Betting Industry are set to implement new regulations focused on streamlining the sector. This initiative is as a result of City Hall’s aim to restore balance in the multibillion-shilling industry that has remained unregulated.

Following the support of Nairobi City County Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Bill 2020, the County seeks to partake in the lucrative industry with City Hall, targeting 30% of revenue made by the sector. The bill that was recently read for the second time at the assembly “seeks to establish a Betting Act which will entrench regulations for the control and licencing of betting and gaming? within the county.”

In accordance to the new Bill, the Nairobi City County Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Control Board will act as an authority to provide ‘coordinative and advisory’ directives on specific projects as a form of control on betting and gaming.

The board will also look to promote the enforcement of a number of policies and standard practices in relation to gambling activities such as betting, lottery and gaming. It will also be assisted by a directorate that will be tasked with establishing and maintaining a register containing an account of all gaming machines and devices in the county.

The Bill states that “the director will have the power to approve or reject an application for licences, issue licenses, suspend or cancel the same.” Furthermore the bill includes entertainment tax ‘chargeable at 20% on the gross winnings’ on all gambling activities.
In addition to these charges, there are also a number of other costs that are being proposed within the Bill such as:

1. Betting, lotteries and gaming draws will be charged at Sh5,000 per draw
2. Entertainment tax at 10%
3. Bingo games will be charged Sh30,000 per bingo for a three-month permit with a levy of 15% going to the County Lottery Distribution? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Trust Fund
4. Grant fee of Sh600,000 will be charged for betting premises with an additional application fee of Sh10,000.

The bill also includes a number of other significant fees such as to ‘pay Sh50,000 to get a duplicate license in case one is lost, destroyed or mutilated.’

Culture and Community Chairperson, Mwangi Njihia (pictured) stated that:

“With the projected increase in population, there was a need for the Nairobi County Assembly in conjunction with the country government to come up with the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Bill 2020 to guide the effective collection of revenue to provide quality services to city residents.”

Njihia further added that the bill was enacted as a response to several persistent challenges facing the county, such as the loss of revenue, explaining that the government cannot receive revenue from these activities because of the inadequacy of the laws regulating the Nairobi County Betting.

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SiGMA Europe:? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Following the UK’s? December 2020 release of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, SiGMA Group will move its February event to April. SiGMA Europe, which will be based in Malta, will now run from 13-15 April, 2021