Betting in Kenya
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 3:35 am
The crackdown against avaricious betting companies operating in Kenya should be supported. The current betting craze in Kenya is the result of a major racket against Kenyans, equivalent to terrorism.
Reports indicate that (poor) Kenyans spent 200 Billion shillings in the past year on betting. This is a national crisis.
The foreigners behind “Kenyan” betting companies are part of the most powerful global organised crime syndicate. They first created “Kenyan” websites, hired Kenyans as fronts (to appear to be owners of those websites), and proceeded to use those highly-ranked websites to bombard Kenyans with information about the “business” and “benefits” of betting.
In my opinion, as long as the turnover in the betting industry in Kenya is over 5 billion shillings per year, the government has not done enough to protect vulnerable Kenyans from the betting companies.
The government should urgently aim to reduce the amount Kenyans spend on betting per year from the current 200 Billion, to less than 5 Billion.
And no betting company should be allowed to operate in Kenya if it is not owned 100% by Kenyan citizens.
Some people argue that the government shouldn’t interfere with the betting industry since people are betting their own money. Wrong.
When hundreds of thousands of very young Kenyans have become bankrupt because of betting, that becomes the government’s problem.
Betting has made very many young Kenyans become much, much poorer. This leads to increase in depression cases, domestic violence, anti-social behaviour, theft…Betting therefore becomes the government’s problem.
But the major argument for the Kenyan government to crack down hard on betting companies is because the millions of people who are made destitute by betting can easily be hired by some rich demagogue to cause chaos in the country. Desperate people will do anything for some handout. Betting, therefore, has become a major security threat.
Reports indicate that (poor) Kenyans spent 200 Billion shillings in the past year on betting. This is a national crisis.
The foreigners behind “Kenyan” betting companies are part of the most powerful global organised crime syndicate. They first created “Kenyan” websites, hired Kenyans as fronts (to appear to be owners of those websites), and proceeded to use those highly-ranked websites to bombard Kenyans with information about the “business” and “benefits” of betting.
In my opinion, as long as the turnover in the betting industry in Kenya is over 5 billion shillings per year, the government has not done enough to protect vulnerable Kenyans from the betting companies.
The government should urgently aim to reduce the amount Kenyans spend on betting per year from the current 200 Billion, to less than 5 Billion.
And no betting company should be allowed to operate in Kenya if it is not owned 100% by Kenyan citizens.
Some people argue that the government shouldn’t interfere with the betting industry since people are betting their own money. Wrong.
When hundreds of thousands of very young Kenyans have become bankrupt because of betting, that becomes the government’s problem.
Betting has made very many young Kenyans become much, much poorer. This leads to increase in depression cases, domestic violence, anti-social behaviour, theft…Betting therefore becomes the government’s problem.
But the major argument for the Kenyan government to crack down hard on betting companies is because the millions of people who are made destitute by betting can easily be hired by some rich demagogue to cause chaos in the country. Desperate people will do anything for some handout. Betting, therefore, has become a major security threat.