As a company, we have always stood for responsible vetting, taming underage gaming and betting, and we obviously welcome reasonable controls.
We accept measures that enable the industry to operate so that it promotes responsible entertainment.
Of course, that should not be in conflict with creating an enabling environment for business to thrive. That is our position.
Our team is still reviewing the Gaming Bill, 2019. We have just received documentation and we have just begun to look at it. I cannot comment definitively until we have fully reviewed every detail in the proposal.
We need to acknowledge that Kenya is a country where sports is revered; casinos and lotteries have been here forever. Sports betting is five years old in this country. Sports is our culture as a country so we understand gaming and sports betting are entertainment.
This form of entertainment simply grew because of the onset of technology. As soon as sports betting went online, we began to see that it is such a big thing but the truth is that gaming been there before.
Technology has come in to really just enhance what has been happening, so the growth in the last five years is the introduction of technology and at the same time introduction of technology to a culture that already exists. We are people who love sports.
It is just acknowledging that technology has changed how we entertain ourselves as far as sports betting is concerned.
We advocate responsible betting in the country. What we always advise our youths is that betting is entertainment because that is what it is. It is a form of entertainment.
When you entertain yourself, usually it is only responsible that you entertain yourself with what money you are willing to lose because that is your disposable income.
For anyone who is thinking that he can engage in sports betting to make a living, then it beats the purpose of betting because you don’t engage yourself in entertainment to make a living, unless you are the entertainer.
Betway Kenya country manager spoke to the Star
