• The source told the Star that the majority of the deportees are Europeans.
• According to the MoU, the deportees violated work permits engaging in business not stated on the application.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has signed deportation orders on 17 directors involved in gambling.
According to sources in the Office of the President, the deportation orders will be effected immediately.
The source told the Star that the majority of the deportees are Europeans.
According to the source, the deportees violated work permits engaging in business not stated on the application.
The deportation comes just a day after the Central Bank of Kenya wrote to banks informing them that 27 bookmakers and five public lottery firms had not had their licenses renewed.
In May, Matiang’i issued a list of directors of betting companies to the Inspector General of Police and the Director of Criminal Investigations for review.
The move was intended to rid the country of those with work permits not authorised for gambling.
The CS, during a betting control and licensing stakeholders meeting, said that almost 100 per cent of the revenue raised by the gaming and betting firms owned by foreigners is repatriated to their home countries.
“The Central Bank of Kenya has associated this capital flight to some distortions currently witnessed in the financial sector,” Matiang'i said.
He questioned the benefit of the investments to the country, adding that in five years the annual turnover of the gaming industry increased from a mere Sh2 billion to about Sh200 billion.
The CS maintained that no country had developed from gambling and the current misrepresentation propagated by the industry to convey the “economic logic” is shocking.