Businessman Paul Ndung’u, a shareholder at Pevans East Africa that formerly owned the SportPesa brand locally, has unveiled the chief reason why the SportPesa betting site ceased its operations in the country.
Speaking on Monday, October 3, Ndung’u accused former President, Uhuru Kenyatta of the cessation of gambling in the country.
He admitted that Kenyatta invited him to State House and demanded that he appear before elders.
According to Ndung’u, Kenyatta insisted that Sportpesa must be shut down since the betting platform core reason why teenagers commit suicide.
“The president had called me in front of eminent elders of Kenya and said he was not going to allow betting into Kenya and he won’t allow paul or anybody else to exploit the Kenyan citizens.
“He went ahead to say that our people are committing suicide, the young people are committing suicide, and that his family is against betting, which through that intimidation in a meeting in State House, I had…, I had to accept what he said because he was the president,” Ndung’u said.
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Ndung’u claimed that Kenyatta was subtly halting Sportpesa so that he could make investments with his ménages.
He further said that the former head of state is now dominating the betting sites as a mode of investment.
“So today it pains me that as the former president, he has allowed his family and members of his family to take over milestone games limited,” he added.
The betting site which was closed on Friday, October 04, 2019, was a result of “adequate taxation and non-hostile regulatory environment.”
The move came after the government’s decision to impose a 20 percent tax on all betting stakes, a move that the firms had cited as damaging to both their customers and treasury.
“Sportpesa is disappointed with the decision by the Kenyan legislature to impose a 20% excise tax on all betting stakes. The tax is based on a fundamental misunderstanding by the Rotich-led treasury of how revenue generation works in the bookmaker industry,” read the statement in part.
SportPesa’s shutting down announcement was made just hours after Betin, the second-largest company, revealed that it was laying off personnel.
Betin, which operates as Gamcode Limited, told staff that the firm had been left with no option but to let them go.
“This has been occasioned by the fact that we have not been operational since July 2019 a fact we are all aware of. Management has had several extensive meetings with relevant government entities regarding the company’s license renewal without much success,” the memo dated September 27 2019 stated.
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