Hundreds of gambling machines and shisha bongs went up in smoke on Wednesday during a police crackdown in Jericho estate, Nairobi.
Nairobi county commissioner Wilson Njega who presided over the crackdown urged Kenyans to support the government's May 31, 2018, ban on gaming machines.
Smoking shisha is also banned.
More than 2,800 gaming and betting machines have so far been confiscated and many others destroyed in Nairobi.
However, some people have started assembling gaming machines locally.
Njega, who spoke in Jericho, advised gambling business owners to venture into other businesses.
Jericho residents welcomed the crackdown. “Some of the women here can no longer save because all they think about is gambling. Our children who had refused to go to school will return to classrooms,” a resident said.
They lamented that gambling was destroying families as children steal from parents to get money for gambling.
In January, hundreds of the machines and shisha pots were destroyed in Baba Dogo. They had been seized in Buru Buru, Makadara and Korogocho estates.
