KENYA (Commonwealth Union) – There is a huge sector in Kenya that is very much into the world of betting and gambling. One could assume it’s the thrill of the win that keeps people coming back to it. However, it isn’t the easiest business to run as the government will watch all centers like a hawk to make sure that no funny business is happening and legally everything is being held straight and to the law.
Now there is obviously a board to run this; it’s called the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLS). There is also Directors of the board. Now these directors are the ones that make the final call-in regard to the gambling scene in Kenya and the entire board of directors were willing to risk going to jail for a decent amount of time as they defy the orders of a high court judge.
The orders of the court were very simple; BCLB along with the principles of gambling firm Milestone Games were not allowed to use the brand SportPesa in the Kenyan gaming business. However, when all parties involved decided that they were not going to take the court order seriously, that’s when the issues started.
It was business woman Asenath Wachera Maina who got the ball rolling on this when she came forward with a petition where she asked the courts to make sure that BCLB board member and Milestone Games principals Ronald Karauri and Bernard Chauro are duly punished for not adhering to the court’s ruling of not using the SportPesa brand name. The court order was less than a month old as the judge had ruled that the license issued to Milestone Games in August by the BCLB to be frozen. The risk of jail time is very real unless the situation is immediately rectified by all parties involved.
