Kenya Revenue Authority proposes new law to track betting activities
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and State agencies in conjunction withthe National Intelligence Service (NIS) have proposed a new law to tame andtrack gambling activities in real-time
The new amendment, which has received the backing of the state, will create aplatform that will help agencies track and control gambling activities fromusers that exploit the sites on suspicious money laundering and dirty inflow ofmoney activities. The government is enforcing this change on account ofconcerns that:
betting firms are offering services where proceeds of crime andcorruption is covered up without any confirmation from the KRA and theBetting Control and Licensing Board.
When implemented, the amendment will allow security agencies and Financial Reporting Centres (FRC) to track illegal money activities and bets whenever theyare placed. The Bill read:
The Board [Gaming Board] shall establish aframework to facilitate real-time monitoring of online gaming activities whichshall be accessible for monitoring by the Communications Authority of Kenya,the board and any relevant government agencies.
The newly proposed amendment will be “targeting users that deal with largetransactions but place bets in small fractions”, therefore gamblers placingsmall regular bets will also be under suspicion by the government.
Known forthe inflow of dirty money majorly from criminal activities, Kenya has had ahistory of suspicious business deals by people in the government who use suchmoney to purchase estates and luxury cars.
In light of this, the KenyanParliament decided to change the betting bill focused on empowering CS Fred Matiangi (pictured right), refuted the move to freeze the CS accounts and that of othergamblers that require proof of the source of cash in their accounts beforeaccessing their money.
SiGMA Group is excited to announce the launch of its newly revamped website. The website is currently available in 6 languages, English, Russian, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish with plans to add another 4 languages over the coming months – namely Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Hindi.