Kenya‘s latest regulatory reforms have been scaled back and put on ice following a High Court decree to suspend the implementation of the Gambling Control (Licensing) Regulations 2026.
Sources say a constitutional petition has been filed challenging the validity of the regulations, which had already come into effect less than a month ago.
The country’s new Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) promulgated a new set of regulatory rules last month, potentially ushering in a new era of licensing frameworks, with the board publicly confirming that it has commenced its first licensing cycle for interested applicants.
However, a petition was filed by iGaming lawyer Thomas Buckley Opar Owuor, alongside a second applicant, Ken Brance and levied against the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA), and the Attorney General, which now sits with the country’s judiciary.
Principally, the appeal revolved around two provisions alongside others: lack of adequate public participation and consent during the process by which the law was gazetted, and the lack of statutory authority on the part of the Cabinet Secretary to promulgate the regulations, underpinning the fact that they might have been signed by the wrong minister.
The prosecutors maintain that the powers for such regulation-making exclusively belong to the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Geoffrey Kiringa Ruku who oversaw the institution of the new board as of October 2025.
In contrast, it was Musalia Mudavadi in his role as Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs who signed the disputed regulations, a capacity in which the prosecutors say they do not find any formal law for such gambling-related action.
The appeal also challenged certain substantive provisions regarding the annual operating licensing fees and the significantly increased capital requirements that applying licensees must have to reach; a licensing fee of KES 50 million for online casinos and online bookmakers, while online lotteries are charged KES 20 million. Operators must also provide a staggering KES 200 million security bond for their businesses.
Reacting to the much-publicised fee hikes, iGaming consultant Kristof Szucs believes the lawmakers might have overestimated their market, agreeing it is very much inflated.
“Well it is an expensive regime. But only time can tell what is going on. I am very much skeptical about the public reasons”, Kristof told iGaming Expert.
“I am guessing the fees are (hope so) more of a typo then real figure, so somebody pushed the emergency stop button. and this is a good thing, I might be also very wrong.”
While the Court has not yet determined the merits of the petition, Hon. Justice William Musyoka has granted on an ex parte basis pending inter partes hearing of the application.
The case is presently scheduled for mention on 21 September 2026, by which date the respondents must have filed their responses. It is worth noting is that the proceedings will not challenge the Gambling Control Act 2025 itself, but rather the subsidiary legislations made under it by the said minister.
