No fewer than 14 foreigners have been deported in renewed efforts by the government of Kenya to tame the betting craze.
The deportees are found to be involved in illegal gambling business.
The deportations came a day after Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i directed the Immigration PS Gordon Kihalangwa to review working permits of foreigners who had applied to conduct other businesses but ended up investing in the betting industry.
Those sent back to their countries include Chinese, Turkish and Spanish nationals.
Kenya currently has more than 30 licensed betting firms and casinos, although only a couple operating.
On Monday, CS Matiang’i directed PS Kihalangwa to review the working permit of all foreigners who applied to do business in the country.
“We are not using the guise of revenue to allow a broken sector…Over 90 percent of players in gaming are foreigners, they repatriate a huge amount of money to their countries.
“The ubiquity and craze of gaming in Kenya has caused dire social and economic strain at the behest of a few elite, majority of whom are non-Kenyans and live outside the country,” he said at during the Betting Control and Licensing stakeholders meeting at the Kenya School of Government.
The Kenyan betting industry has in recent times recorded a surge in popularity amid aggressive marketing campaigns by players and projections are that gross gambling revenue in Kenya stands at Ksh7 billion ($70 million) monthly and about Ksh100 billion ($1 billion) annually, according to the betting regulator.
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