Despite the complex licencing and high capital requirements for a licencing company to be registered successfully in Kenya, the past five years have seen a proliferation of betting companies in the country. As of 2025, there are 128 licensed betting companies, the number is expected to increase with the continued interest in the sector, particularly among the youth, hastened by the ease of access to gambling platforms on smartphones.
With the growth of this sector, disputes between gambling users and the licensing companies are beginning to emerge and be ventilated before our courts.
The Betting Control and Licensing Board is established pursuant to Section 3 of the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act with the mandate of inquiring into complaints made against licenced betting companies, lotteries and gaming schemes.
Regulation 15 C of the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Regulations permits a person aggrieved by the action of a licensee or a permit holder to make a complaint to the Board. Once a Complaint is made to the Board, the Board is required to conduct a hearing between the complainant and the entity complained against. The Act is, however, silent on the rules and procedure that the Board should follow once a complaint is made. The Act is also silent on the timeframe within which the Board should make a finding once a complaint is lodged before it. On the flipside, once the Board has made a decision, if either of the parties are dissatisfied with the decisions of the Board, the aggrieved person may lodge an Appeal to the High Court of Kenya but the Appeal MUST be filed within 21 days of the decision of the Board (Section 62 of the Act).
The decision of the High Court is final and may not be appealed against, to the Court of Appeal. It is not clear why the legislature limited the right of Appeal for disputes from the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Board, yet disputes filed before various other Tribunals and Boards, have a right of a second Appeal.
This legal position has been discussed in the case of Nyabayo v Shop & Deliver Limited/Abetika (Court of Appeal Civil Application E564 of 2024), where the Court of Appeal dismissed an application for leave to appeal a High Court decision stemming from a Betting Control and Licensing Board complaint. Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi’s observed that: “I find that I have no jurisdiction to go around the express prohibition of appeals to this Court from decisions of the Board”.
From the above exploration, there are 2 main things to note.
As the industry continues to grow, it is clear that there is a clear case for amendment of the Regulation to provide much-needed structure to the mode of dispute resolution before the Board. In the meantime, litigants must be mindful of the strict timelines for filing of an Appeal to the High Court, noting that the decisions of the High Court are final.
May 2025
Elijah Charo
Legal Associate | Muthoga & Omari Advocates