Online Casinos in Kenya

The Legal Position

Online casino play is licensed in Kenya. The Gambling Control Act, 2025 (No. 14 of 2025) requires anyone who wants to "operate, sell or promote online gambling in Kenya" to apply to the regulator for one of three online licences, and an "online casino licence" is the third of them, separate from the "online bookmakers licence". That separation is the point worth noting: Kenyan online gambling is often described as a betting market, and the Act licenses online casino as its own category.

The Act was assented to on 7 August 2025, published in the Kenya Gazette on 12 August 2025 and commenced on 26 August 2025. Section 120 repeals the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act (Cap. 131), the statute under which the Betting Control and Licensing Board operated, and the Act's long title provides "for the establishment of the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Kenya".

The Regulator

Gambling is now regulated by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Kenya, established by section 6 of the Act. On its own site the Authority describes itself as "a statutory body established under the Gambling Control Act, 2025 to regulate, supervise, and control all forms of gambling within the Republic of Kenya" and as "responsible for licensing and overseeing all gambling activities, including betting, casinos, lotteries, online gambling platforms, and related services". Section 122 of the Act transferred the former Board's rights, duties, obligations, assets and liabilities to it, so references to the Betting Control and Licensing Board describe a body that no longer holds the licensing function.

Licences already issued did not lapse with the change: section 121 provides that gambling activities including casinos and online gambling licensed under the repealed Act "shall remain valid for the period of the licence", and that the holder must apply to the Authority for a new licence when the old one expires.

How an Online Licence Works

An applicant must submit a proposed gambling control system for the Authority's consideration and deposit security with the Authority. The system itself is then a licence condition, and section 68 lists what it has to cover before the Authority may approve it, including online security of information, an online payment system, protection measures against under age gambling, protection measures against vulnerability in gambling, responsible advertising and data protection under the Data Protection Act. A licensee must also maintain a customer care centre within Kenya, and the Authority is required to build a framework for real-time monitoring of casinos and online gambling that the Communications Authority of Kenya can also use.

The application machinery is set out in the Gambling Control (Licensing) Regulations, 2026 (Legal Notice 111 of 2026), which repeat the three online licence types and route an application through Form 8 of the First Schedule.

Operators Based Outside Kenya

The Act addresses offshore operators directly rather than leaving them in a grey area. Section 79(1) allows a gambling operator based in a foreign country to be issued an online gambling licence only where it "is registered in Kenya", "has a physical address registered in Kenya" and meets the Authority's prescribed requirements, and section 79(2) requires its audited books of accounts for the preceding year. Section 79(3) makes it an offence for a foreign-based operator to provide online gambling services in Kenya without a licence, with a fine of up to two million shillings or two years' imprisonment for a natural person and up to fifty million shillings for a corporate person.

Advertising and Player Protection

Section 87 requires the Authority's approval before a gambling activity is advertised, and sets conditions on the advertisement itself: it must indicate the addictive nature of gambling, notify players to play responsibly, prohibit children from playing, carry no "false, misleading or deceptive message likely to create an erroneous positive impression of gambling", avoid billboards close to a learning institution, and "dedicate twenty per cent of aired advertisement towards promotion of responsible gambling". Broadcast on television or radio between six in the morning and ten in the evening is barred unless it falls during a live sporting event.

On the player side, a licensee may not let anyone play unless they are registered and hold an account, must require proof of age of majority before registration and again before paying out a prize, and must have mechanisms to stop a child being registered. Betting with a child, or sending a child any betting advertisement, is an offence under section 109. The Act also sets a floor rather than a ceiling on online stakes: section 71 provides that a player "shall not bet an amount of less than twenty shillings in a competition".

Taxation

The Act did not re-legislate the gambling taxes. Section 122(6)(a) keeps sections 29A, 44A, 55A and 59B of the repealed Act — betting tax, gaming tax, lottery tax and prize competition tax — "in force until new provisions are enacted".

Self-Exclusion

The Authority runs a self-exclusion scheme and states that "It is a legal requirement for gambling companies to provide the self-exclusion option." Its published description sets exclusion periods of roughly six months to five years, covering a company's premises, website and application, removes the person from marketing databases, and does not permit leaving the programme early. Section 11(2)(c) of the Act separately requires the Cabinet Secretary's operating guidelines to describe arrangements for "making assistance available to persons who are or may be affected by problems related to gambling".