A NEW BILL THAT RESTRICTS BETTING IN NAIROBI TO 5 – STAR HOTEL CASINOS

A new bill tabled before the Nairobi County Assembly wants to ban betting and gambling outside the city’s five-star hotels with casinos.

The Nairobi City County Betting, Lotteries and Gaming (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which is sponsored by South B ward representative Waithera Chege also seeks to restrict the betting hours in the capital to 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

It further proposes a jail term of up to four years or a Ksh.10 million fine for anyone found operating outside the said hours.

“All licensed betting, lotteries and gaming premises and online gaming shall only operate within the hours of 8pm and 6am. A person who contravenes this provision will be liable, upon conviction, to a fine of Ksh.10 million or four years imprisonment, or both,” Chege was quoted as saying by the Business Daily.

Operating outside the establishment regulations, on the other hand, shall attract a fine of Ksh.5 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both.

The Bill further wants mobile network operators to abolish all the USSD codes used by local radio stations in their gaming activities.

It also seeks to impose a mandatory ​​closure of all pay bills and mobile betting apps until after working hours, with Chege arguing that Kenyans are spending a lot of their productive time on gambling.

The legislator also wants all the gaming companies to adopt cashless payment systems to ward off minors, saying: “Going cashless will mean that those still going to school cannot register to have mobile gaming accounts as they don’t have identification cards.”

The Bill also restricts television and radio adverts promoting betting, lotteries, and gaming to only past watershed hours.