Best Betting Sites in Kenya 2024

Overview

Throughout our in-depth assessment of the betting sites in Kenya, we carefully examine the bookmakers in the region and what they offer. Since giving our readers the most up-to-date and accurate information is compulsory, we do not do this merely on a one-off basis. On the contrary, we constantly renew our test reports. In this way, we guarantee all our users stay up to date with the latest information. 

Therefore, our editorial team and testers do not only consider the bonus offers, mobile betting, wagering offers, and payment methods of each bookmaker in Kenya. We make sure we check out the legal angle, as this is also crucial. An illegal bookmaker can ruin gamblers, as they are likely to miss out on payouts even when their bet wins. In this case, there will be no organisation acting as oversight for users to report to. For legitimate bookmakers, users can rest assured that if they win their bets, they will get their payouts, except if they have gone against the terms and conditions. 

So, from a legal standpoint, Betting Tips Africa assures you of total coverage and transparency. We also make sure to check and reveal to YOU how to get more from the Sportsbooks in your region. When evaluating each country (in this case, Kenya), we look at the wagering offers, mobile betting platforms (website and app), payment methods for deposits and withdrawals, and the bonuses and promotions primarily available in the region. 

Without further delay, we will delve straight into the full legal information on Kenya. However, in this process, we will take a moment to check out a brief history/facts about Kenya. We will also take a quick look at early gambling in East Africa. 

History/Facts Of Kenya 

Kenya was colonised by Great Britain between the years 1895 and 1963. The country borders Ethiopia to the North, Uganda and South Sudan to the West and Northwest, respectively, Somalia to the Northeast, and Tanzania to the South. Kenya was part of the East African protectorate and is a diverse nation with numerous ethnic groups. The largest ethnic groups as of 2021 are the Kikuyu (17.1%), Luhya (14.3%), Kalenjin (13.4%) and the Luo (10.7%) people. The East African country has a large land mass area of 582,646 square kilometres and a population of over 55 million people, making it the seventh most populous country in Africa. 

Early Kenyan Gambling  

Gambling has always been part of the Kenyan region since time immemorial. With a current population of about 55 million people, gambling has risen steadily as more residents engage in betting. Kenya has one of the most sophisticated gambling regulations in Africa. 

In Kenya, the first legislation passed on gambling happened in the year 1966. The legislation was passed through the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Act of the United Kingdom. In essence, while gambling activities have always been a routine activity in the life of early Kenyans, the region has had a structure for betting for more than 50 years.

The Kenyan Gambling Laws

As already established, Gambling has been a part of the routine life of early Kenyans, and the activity was regulated in 1966, which is more than 50 years ago. The earliest form of legislation in Kenya was the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Act of the United Kingdom. This act legalised many forms of gambling in Kenya and gave birth to the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) under the bill.  

Since then, residents have legally been able to play and enjoy casino games and sports betting. Also, Kenya legalises bingo games and the lottery to the residents. However, before embarking on serving gaming services to Kenyans, each bookmaker must acquire a licence from the relevant authorities.

In 2012, there was an amendment to the gambling laws in Kenya. The National Gaming Bill was revised as Section 3(1) of the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act Cap. 131 – Laws of Kenya of 1966 and it regulate all forms of gambling in the country, which includes online betting. This brings us to the Betting Control And Licencing Board. This regulatory body must be mentioned whenever the legality of sports betting in Kenya is discussed.

The Betting Control And Licencing Board (BCLB) is the biggest gambling regulatory body in Kenya. The sector was borne out of the passing of the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Act of the United Kingdom in 1966 and revised as Section 3(1) of the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act Cap. 131 – Laws of Kenya of 1966. The BCLB is in charge of monitoring all gambling activity within the East African country and ensuring that all gambling service providers are working according to the law. They also make sure to punish any gambling organisation that fails to adhere to the laws. Below are the full functions of the BCLB, as listed out on the official website. 

• The organisation sets standards, guidelines, and rules to regulate and control betting, lotteries, and all forms of gaming. This is carried out through constant supervision and inspection of all betting and gaming activities of bookmakers and punters.
• The BCLB sets rules to protect all members of the country against all forms of fraud. 
• The organisation is tasked with the eradication of all forms of illegal gambling and promoting responsible gambling. 
• The Betting Control And Licencing Board also presides over all Public Lottery and Prize Competition draws.
• The regulatory body is also in charge of authorizing amusement machines and pool tables in the country. 

To summarise, all the functions and lines of action of the Betting Control And Licencing Board of Kenya (BCLB) are targeted at controlling the gambling environment in the whole country. The organisation's activities and actions help the government to keep an eye on the security of Kenyan punters and also receive all appropriate taxes from the relevant companies. 

At the time of this publication, the Betting Control And Licencing Board (BCLB) headquarters is located in the capital of the country, Nairobi. They can be located at ACK Gardens Annex, Bishop Road, 1st  Ngong Ave, Nairobi – Kenya. Their opening hours are between  8:00 am and 5:00 pm on Mondays to Fridays, and you can contact them directly by phone numbers +254-111021400 , +254-111021407, or email address info@bclb.go.ke.

[N.B] Below are the classes of licences granted by the Betting Control And Licencing Board (BCLB), and operators inside the country must apply for any of the licences which apply to their services 

• Bookmakers Licenses-section 16
• Totalisator License-section 18
• Pool Betting Scheme License – Section 22
• Permit Authorizing bookmaking at race meetings – Section 23
• Public Gaming License – Section 49
• Public Lottery Permit – Section 36
• Prize Competition Permit – Section 59 A
• Amusement machine/pool table permit section 58

There are no other gambling regulatory bodies in Kenya aside from the BCLB. The Betting Control And Licencing Board is tasked with sanitising the gambling environment in the country. 

Kenya is the seventh-largest country in Africa based on population size with over 55 million people in the country. According to statistics at the start of 2023, Kenya is home to about 17.86 million internet users, and the internet penetration percentage stood at 32.7%. According to a 2020 statistic, Kenya generated about 40 billion shillings from ISPs (Internet service providers). 

With many factors that influence stable internet connection and the availability of fast mobile money platforms, Kenya's gambling sphere has witnessed a huge growth in the number of punters and bets. According to statistics from the Betting Control And Licencing Board (BCLB), in 2022, bookmakers made revenues of 16.3 billion KES, while casinos made upwards of 6.4 billion KES. 

Kenya's unwavering love and commitment to online betting is well documented, with the industry witnessing record-staked bets of 88.5 billion KES in 2023. Also, these bets resulted in an income of 6.64 billion KES for the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) via excise taxes alone. By calculations, Kenyans placed 242 million KES on bets daily, 10.1 million KES hourly and 168,333 KES every minute. Going further, this means Kenyan gamblers staked bets worth 2,806 KES every second. 

Bookmakers In Kenya

Sports betting is one of the biggest forms of gambling prevalent in Kenya. Others are lotteries, numbers, and casinos. The Kenyan gambling laws are quite straightforward and complete. The laws have already been stated in the early stages of this article. However, this section will go over a summary of the gambling laws in Kenya. 

(i) Kenya has one of the oldest and most sophisticated gambling regulations in Africa which date as far back as 1966. The gambling laws in the region were put in place by the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Act of the United Kingdom, which gave birth to the highest gambling regulatory body in Kenya, the Betting Control And Licencing Board. 

(ii) In Kenya, the majority of gambling activities are legal. You are free to gamble legitimately in Kenya with licenced bookmakers without the worry of committing a crime. The BCLB (Betting Control And Licencing Board) is the highest regulatory body in Kenya and acts as an oversight for gambling activities. There are no other regulation bodies in the country. This is contrary to countries like Nigeria, where there are multiple regulatory bodies apart from the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC). 

(iii) The legal gambling age in Kenya is eighteen years. If you are of the legal gambling age, you are free to gamble legitimately without breaking the law. However, underage gambling and its punishment are not yet defined by the current laws. This could change soon as there are already plans to put them in place. Do note that we do not promote unlawful or underage betting. 

(iv) In Kenya, some of the highest tax rates and applicable ones are already in place. The tax rates are also reviewed and mostly increased regularly. In the region, gambling establishments are required to withhold 20% of the winnings paid out to punters. Also, a 15% tax is charged on each gambling establishment's gross gaming revenues. These are added to their annual licence fees which vary by the nature and size of the establishment. These gambling firms are also required to pay a standard 16% income tax. 

(v) Large brands among global bookmakers such as Betway, Unibet, and 1xBet operate in Kenya.

As mentioned above, Kenya has one of the best and most refined legislative frameworks for gaming. A study in 2017 indicated that the country has the largest gambling market, behind Nigeria and South Africa. Additionally, about two million punters make use of mobile betting services. SportPesa undoubtedly leads the market, where more than 80% of the bettors place their wagers. 

In Kenya, cricket and rugby are very liked sports, with the Safari Sevens Tournament taking place every year. Furthermore, Kenya ranks as one of the most successful athletics nations in the world. Moreover, cricket is widespread, and the country co-hosted the 2003 World Cup in Africa. Kenya also hosts two rallies, the KCB Safari Rally and, together with Tanzania, the East African Safari Classic Rally. Beyond that, football and basketball are widespread – just like in most other countries on the continent.

Kenya is one of the many countries that allows lawful engagement in sports betting by residents. The country has one of the biggest betting industries in Africa and is a target for some of the biggest Sportsbooks in the world. In Kenya, local bookmakers are in abundance with a handful of them having large market shares. All bookmakers compete amongst themselves for users through the offering of favourable betting markets, big odds, multiple features, loyalty programmes and bonuses/promotions. 

Odds are one of the crucial factors that influence Kenyan punters' decisions to pick a bookmaker. Odds, which are represented in numbers, reflect the views of the bookmaker on the probability of an event occurring. In other words, it shows whether the bookmaker thinks an event will happen or not. Odds are presented in many forms, but the three most popular are decimal odds, fraction odds, and moneyline or American odds. 

The fractional odds are presented as fractions, while the decimal odds are presented as decimal numbers. The decimal odds carry a plus or minus sign in front of a number. In Kenya, most bookmakers use decimal odds as they are more popular. As a gamer, if your aim is to win a huge payout, make sure you take your time to learn about the odds and how they work.

Betting Sites With The Best Odds In Kenya 

One advantage that sports betting has over other forms of gambling is that players can compare and contrast the odds easily. While each bookmaker usually claims to offer the highest odds, any punter can easily check if this is true. As the odds influence the amount of your potential winnings, we check this factor carefully. Obviously, only the bookies with always competitive odds earn a favourable score.

We provide an overview and deeper look into the odds margin offered by every bookmaker. This can be boldly seen in our quick facts section (Betting Offer And Odds) of every bookmaker review. With our ratings in this section, you can easily get an idea of the odds situation at every bookmaker. 

You can easily check the state of a bookmaker's odds through the odds margin, which is also called the "Vigorish" or "Vig." Here, the rule of thumb is that the lower the margin, the better the odds. For the prematch wagers, we classify the odds with a profit margin of 5% and below as good. However, with live bets, you must consider that the margin is considerably higher.

Do note that the odds margin is not static, as it changes often across different sports, games, events, time and many other variables. So, we highly encourage you to check out the odds margin before staking any bet. 

In Kenya, several bookmakers offer mouthwatering and interesting odds to punters. However, do note that the Vigorish varies from time to time depending on several factors as mentioned above. So, you can determine which bookmaker in Kenya is offering you the best odds every time you want to stake your bet. 

Nowadays, we all do as many things as possible through the internet including sports betting. For this reason, we consider the online presence of a bookmaker as a key indicator of the quality of their services. We watch out for a lot of things in regard to the mobile website and app of every bookmaker. Some of our focus points are listed below:

• For experienced users and novice bettors, the website needs to be user-friendly and consequently intuitive. This means that all the main contents and links must be clearly laid out and easy on the eye.
• In the case of live betting, there must be almost zero lags. This means everything must load and process promptly to avoid potential loss for users. Also, when placing live wagers, users should have access to live streams or something equivalent.
• The registration process must be smooth and easy to complete. Verification and other forms of validation must not take too long to confirm, as there is zero joy in spending an unnecessarily long time registering before getting into the action. 
• In any case, the most important requirement of the bookmaker must be transparent. No shady prompts or agreements. Everything must be clear and concise so that users can understand perfectly what they are getting into.
•  The app and website must be secured with industry-standard systems to protect every user against all forms of fraud and theft. There is no use for a platform if user information falls into the hands of cybercriminals or money is stolen from user accounts. However, we urge users to also protect their passwords, and information from anyone to ensure that their money is safe. 

With an ever-increasing number of people using their smartphones or tablets to browse, the websites of the operators must be adapted to these needs. In Kenya, millions of players wager through this method, and bookmakers should provide ones for Android, Windows, and iOS. Furthermore, push notifications represent a plus in our ratings.

One of a bookmaker's selling points is the availability of multiple payment methods. This is an important thing that we watch out for when rating a bookmaker on our site. As we all know, debit and credit card transactions, mobile payments, electronic wallets and bank transfers represent the most popular methods of payment in Kenya. So ideally, the betting sites should offer these options. Below are the most important depositing and withdrawal methods bookmakers in Kenya should have available:

• VISA and Mastercard credit cards
• Mobile payments with M-Pesa and Airtel Money
• Electronic wallets like Neteller, Skrill, PayPal and maybe Pesapel.

However, if a bookmaker offers all or some of the above-mentioned payment options, one thing that must be worked on is the speed of payment processing. The greatest variety of payment options is not much use when you must wait eternally before your payments go through or are confirmed. In Kenya, bookmakers are doing well in making numerous payment options available and also keeping the waiting time short. 

It is essential that every payment YOU make at any of the bookmakers in Kenya is payment-free from the bookmakers and you are not burdened with unnecessary fees. Although bookies are subject to turnover taxation, this cannot be put on the users. As already mentioned, transparency is our top priority. And here we do not rate bookmakers that charge for transactions, while we rate those that make them free from their end. Any payment fee incurred by users during transactions should purely be from the payment method they select.  

Bonuses are one of the things that usually catch the eye first on betting sites. But what many people do not consider is that an attractive offer is not certainly a good one. This is precisely why this topic plays a considerable role in our Kenyan bookmakers' review. Hence, we do not only review the bonuses for new customers, but we equally focus on the ones for returning customers. In doing so, our primary aim is to clarify these points:

• Is it easy or complicated to profit from a bonus?
• What are the terms and conditions set by the bookmaker? Are these terms easy to meet, or are they difficult? 
• What turnover conditions apply to each bonus? Also, what is the highest possible amount?
• How long do YOU have the possibility to use the bonus before they expire?
• Are there multiple types of bonuses available? Or are there just a few ones?

In Kenya, bookmakers offer bonuses like cashback, loyalty programmes, welcome bonuses, free bets and others. We often find out the whole truth about many things exclusively through the small print. To further help you win more, we explain in our Kenya bookmaker reviews all the types of bonuses available and how you can benefit from them. 

Up to this point, we have discussed the basic requirements for all bookmakers to be rated highly on Betting Tips Africa. However, there is one thing remaining that bookmakers must look at before getting high ratings on our site. Apart from the usual bonus offers for new and existing customers, there should be certain features on the list. Some of these features include opportunities that should not be missing:

• Cashout
• Betting configurator
• Lottery 
• A VIP program 
• Live betting 
• Casino gaming 
• Virtual Gaming

The Best Kenyan Betting Sites

There are a number of top-class betting sites in Kenya and picking one is subjective as there are a lot of things to consider including user feelings. To help you pick with ease, we offer you reliable Kenyan betting site reviews. And you can be sure that we only include operators that have a licence to work in Kenya. Additionally, our experienced testers always aim to be as objective as possible, and they also share precious personal and subjective observations.

Additionally, you can constantly find tips in the form of fact-based previews as well as news predictions and strategic points via our Soccervista, Betting Strategy, and News sections.