Gambling and betting are sucking money out of low-income earners holed pockets, who have their head buried in the craze. A majority being Kenyan youths who have no stable source of incomes, but the convenience of mobile money saves the day.
Statistics have put Kenya on top of all African countries in the category of young people engaged in gaming and betting. In a recent report by CBK after conducting a Financial Access Household Survey dubbed FinAccess 2019 that measures and tracks developments and dynamics in the financial inclusion landscape in Kenya from the demand side, use of mobile money accounts for betting was reported by 3.7 percent of individuals aged 18 to 25 years, with the lowest use being persons aged 46 to 55 years.
Overall, 1.9 percent of mobile money account use it for betting with the proportion higher for males at 2.7 percent and in urban areas at 2.1 percent the report revealed further. The betting syndrome is growing stronger by day in the name of its a good source of income
Interior Secretary Matiang’i recently revealed that 76 percent of young people are actively involved in betting and 54 percent of those actively involved in betting are low-income earners, spelling out the radical changes his ministry is drafting to regulate betting policy in the country
Matiang’i briefed stakeholders in the betting industry as well as the Betting and Licensing Control Board (BCLB) of the tough policies that are about to be imposed on the betting industry to curb on its exponential growth and discourage youths from getting lured into it.
“From July 1, all betting agency licenses in the country stand suspended, until the holders of those licenses provide proof of their tax remittance compliance. The license will only be then renewed if the betting agency complies with the taxes required,” Matiang’i said
Some 500,000 Kenyan youths have been blacklisted by a number of mobile money platforms because of high default rates associated with betting that is eating into their peanuts.