Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has called for the regulation of the betting industry and told the stakeholders that the government will not stand by as the sector eats into the future of the young people.
Kenya has the highest number of betting youth, according to a recent GeoPoll rapid survey carried out among youth between the ages of 17-35 in Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya.
Government statistics have revealed that more than 500,000 Kenyans mostly youths have been blacklisted by the credit reference bureaus (CRB) for failure to repay loans borrowed for gambling.
Fred Matiang’i further 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.
Dr Matiang’i said deportation orders will be issued to foreign investors who will be on the list forwarded to him by the Immigration.
“My ministry will issue deportation orders for all these foreigners who applied for work permits to do something else but ended up in betting business,” he said.
“We will not allow other people to come and spoil our youth doing unlawful business in Kenya,” he added, noting that about 90 percent of those in the industry are non-nationals who then repatriate most of the revenues back home.
Speaking on Monday during a meeting with betting stakeholders in Nairobi, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i accused gambling firms of turning youths into borrowing machines, adding that the government must regulate the sector.
“Most of our youths are in gambling but they are jobless hence they have to borrow money to gamble,” Matiang’i said.
A recent survey by Transunion Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) found that 316,455 people in a group of 600,000 cases had been negatively listed for outstanding balances of less than Sh100 associated with mobile money.