Kenya’s Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) has officially gazetted a new set of regulatory laws for operators under the newly formed regime.
We are analysing the new landscape in Kenya as the six regulations came into effect on 30th June and became binding for all gaming operations after a three-day notice period, with the GRA confirming that it has commenced the first licensing cycle since inception.
The six new laws encompass details around licensing, conduct of gambling operators, National Lottery 2026, advertising, the gambling appeals tribunal, and rules facing foreign operators.
Additionally, the regulator has included a transitional 60-day window within which licences issued under the now-repealed acts remain valid, albeit only for sixty days from GRA’s original date of assuming office (30th June 2026), within which time the holders of such licences must apply for the appropriate licence under the new act.
John Mutua, CEO of the Association of Gaming Operators Kenya (AGOK) had told iGaming Expert that he expects a smooth transition of regulatory powers following the promulgation of the new act as operators look towards a more transparent and fair regime.
He also reaffirmed that operators that acquired licenses under the BCLB for speculation or for the search for investors might need to rethink their strategy.
Mutua said: “The GCA 2025 addresses this directly and seeks to clean this up to allow for those who genuinely want to operate in the sector to have an enabling ecosystem to operate their business.”
It is worth noting that the GRA had made a late change to address what would have been classed as a first Online Hybrid Licence for operators that sought to carry out both online betting and online casino gaming, ruling that such operations would require two separate licenses for each one.
Kenya’s new licensing framework brings with it significant fee hikes and capital requirements as the minimum gambling capital now ranges from Ksh5 million for land-based bingo to Ksh2 billion for national lottery.
Other verticals like online bookmaking, online casino, online prize competition, online totalizators and online pool betting schemes each attract a capital requirement of Ksh10 million.
Thus, there have been suggestions the new laws were bound to phase out a lot of small-scale operators who do not have the financial strength to meet such high threshold, giving rise to the entry of well-established foreign firms into the market.
The essential information for operators in the new era
Aside from the capital requirements, there are other elements of the new framework that operators need to know to thrive in the system.
Prominent amongst them is that they will need to obtain and maintain a license for all online games under every product that they offer, and must ensure that such licenses are certified by a recognised international testing lab.
They must also obtain a license for any gambling equipment, machine, or device they use in the daily running of their businesses.
An accreditation for top employees for every firm, such as the directors or shareholders, must now be obtained via the form of a unique license.
The certificate of registration of every gambling trademark or business must be submitted to the GRA within 30 days of the licence being granted.
