• Betpawa says board decision to cancel their license was carried out without notice.
• BLCB required firms to have a physical gaming premises, Betpawa says they indicated physical address.
Image: COURTESY
The High Court has declined to quash a decision by the Licensing Control Board that cancelled BetPawa’s operational license.
Justice Weldon Korir said he did not find it just to issue any temporary orders. He directed that the board files their response in the case within three days and parties appear on July 26 for hearing.
Nanovas International Kenya Limited, formerly Gaming International Limited– trading as betPawa - is among betting firms whose gaming licenses were cancelled by LCB.
betPawa says the board’s action was carried out without notifying them yet they stood to be adversely affected by it.
“According to the board's own statute being the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act, the board is required to afford us a right to be heard in determining its fitness and propriety to hold a license. However, the board has not invited representations from us but has chosen to ignore it in carrying out its actions,” betPawa said.
Through lawyer Emmanuel Wetangula, the firm says BLCB wrote to Safaricom on July 10 directing the suspension of the pay bill numbers and short codes for many companies including theirs.
The firm had two weeks earlier written to the board requesting for reasons, including the particulars of the purported investigations since, it had complied with all of the board’s requests during the renewal of its license.
But the board did not respond to their request.
“We were taken aback to subsequently learn of the board's letter to Safaricom, still citing alleged, ongoing due diligence to determine fitness and propriety to hold a license,” it said.
According to the court documents, betPawa in March made two applications to the board for the renewal of its bookmaker’s off-the-course and public gaming licenses. Both applications annexed several documents and also sought the board's advice on any pending items required to complete the renewal process.
On June 11, the board wrote to betpawa indicating that it resolved not to renew its public gaming license for the reason that the firm was required to set up and operationalise a physical gaming premise.
However, in its application for the renewal of the license, the firm had indicated the physical address for its operations.
betpawa is among firms whose licences have not been renewed or which have been told to fulfill certain conditions in order to be allowed to operate. Other betting giants affected are SportsPesa, Betin, Betway, Premierbet, Lucky 2 U, 1X Bet, Mozzartbet, Dafa bet, World Sports Bet, Atari Gaming, Palmsbet and Betboss.
Also on the list are Betyetu, Elitebet, Bungabet, Cysabet, Nestbet, Easybet, Kick Off, Millionaire Sports Bet, Kenya Sports Bet and Eastleighbet. All betting firms were supposed to have had their licenses renewed by July 1.
Edited by R.Wamochie