Table of contents
Each chapter below is one tab on the edge of the handbook. Guides are listed in the order they were published, with the date each was last checked. A guide answers one question: it gives the direct answer first, then the rule, the section it comes from and the primary sources it was read from.
Getting started legally
Age, identity, opening an account and what a licensed operator must do before you place a bet.
To open a betting account in Kenya you need proof of age of majority and an official ID (s.72), your mobile money number and a licensed operator.
Kenyan licensees must check where you are before you bet (L.N. 112 r.41(c) and r.82). How the check works, what a VPN risks and your data rights.
The Act for bettors
The Gambling Control Act, 2025 and its regulations, explained for the person placing the bet.
Section 67 of Kenya's Gambling Control Act sets three online licences: bookmaker, lottery and casino. Each lasts a year; licence fees are KES 20m to 50m.
Online betting in Kenya is legal only with a licensed operator. Age, KES 20 minimum stake, 5% taxes, M-Pesa limits, payouts and complaints, by section.
Online betting is legal in Kenya only with an operator licensed under the Gambling Control Act, 2025 (s.28). Unlicensed sites commit offences under s.98.
The Gambling Control Act, 2025 took effect on 26 August 2025, creating the Gambling Regulatory Authority, three online licences and player protections.
Stakes, winnings and taxes
Excise duty on stakes, tax on winnings and how a bet is settled under Kenyan law.
One illustrative Kenyan bet from deposit to payout: 5% excise on the deposit, 5% withholding tax on the withdrawal and the operator's own 15% betting tax.
Kenya charges 5% excise duty on money deposited for betting, not on each stake. The law, who remits it, the rate history since 2019 and a worked example.
Deposits and withdrawals
M-Pesa, Airtel Money, paybills and the limits and charges that apply to betting payments.
An M-Pesa betting deposit goes to the operator's Paybill, typed by you or sent as an STK push. Steps, charges, the KES 250,000 limit and Paybill checks.
M-Pesa caps a betting payout at KES 250,000 a transaction and KES 500,000 a day. B2C charges fall on the operator; agent cash-out costs you KES 11 to 309.
Airtel Money caps a betting payment at KES 250,000 and a day at KES 500,000, like M-Pesa. Charges, paybill-style deposits, payouts and key differences.
Limits and self-exclusion
The protections the law gives you: deposit limits, time limits, self-exclusion and where help is.
Self-exclude from betting in Kenya under s.115 and L.N. 112: use the site's real-time tool or Form 1 to the GRA for 6 months, 1 or 2 years or indefinitely.
Kenyan licensees must offer daily, weekly and monthly deposit limits plus loss, session and spending caps under L.N. 112 r.84. The law sets no maximum.
Words on your bet slip
Short definitions of the legal and betting words you meet when betting online.
Section 2 of the Gambling Control Act, 2025 defines online gambling as gambling by remote communication on the internet: betting, casino and lottery.
A stake is the money you risk on one bet. Kenyan law sets a KES 20 online minimum, and excise is now 5% of what you deposit, not of each stake.