Pressure is mounting on the government to clamp down on the addictive high-stake gambling machines, after a group of cross-party legislators and leaders raised concerns over its dangers. Already several government agencies, among them the Central Bank of Kenya, National Intelligence Service (NIS), Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) and the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) have sounded the alarm to the government to rein in the “thirsty betting firms” out to make quick money from unsuspecting Kenyans.
A NIS letter dated April 6, 2016, seen by the People Daily warns the government that “the mushrooming betting and gambling” joints in residential areas are likely to become long-term centres of money laundering and terrorism funding.” The letter also warns that such centres are likely to increase crime as well as lead to murders and killings as a result of differences “over winning jackpots or prizes.”
The warning is in apparent reference to an incident in Eastleigh in which a gambler went berserk in February this year and slashed to death two managers of a casino after he gambled and lost Sh30, 000. Now the spotlight is on the Betting Control and Licensing Board, which the government agencies and other players accuse of failure to regulate the sector.
The machines described as the ‘crack cocaine’ of gambling have punters play for as little as Sh10 and have popped up in tens of hundreds of shops especially in low-income areas throughout the country. Reports point to a proliferation of the machines, referred to as ‘Muchina’, a term derived from the Chinese owners.
The situation has escalated crime, in addition to increased chances of money laundering. It has further emerged that the machines are being operated illegally, given that regulations that monitor betting are not being adhered to. “In Kiambu we have about 20 to 30 machines in one room, kiosks or road reserves and majority of them are not even licensed by the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB),” a source intimated to us.
Kiambu County Executive for Trade, Dominic Gicheru said the Chinese operators usually lease out the machines for a day at a certain fee with an agreement to give the owner of the premises 10 per cent of the day’s collection. This came even as Nyeri county Senator Mutahi Kagwi drew the gambling craze comparison to heroin addiction in America saying that the danger it harbours is higher than that posed by alcohol.
Kagwe stated that the influx of Chinese gambling machines is bound to increase crime rates since betting is no longer a reserve of the rich. He said: “It is all too easy for people to lose vast sums of money in just one hour on these machines and we already know they are often clustered in poorer areas...The rule of thumb is that the machine will always win, there is no beating the machine.”
Kagwe said that reducing the maximum stake on the machines in the first instance would help limit the harm they cause to people’s lives. Charles Wambia, Acting Director of the Betting Control and Licensing Board, who had to be cajoled by Internal Security Cabinet secretary Major General (rtd) Joseph Nkaissery to talk to us, said they were aware of the problem and were addressing.
He however, declined to shed more light, insisting that we write a letter to the BCLB chairman detailing our areas of concern before he could respond. But our investigations indicated that the machines are being licensed by the BCLB in total contravention of the BCLB Act.
Some other players in the sector, speaking on condition of anonymity, urged the government to replace Wambia with someone “capable of controlling the betting and gambling craze that has hit the country.” One Casino operator who spoke on condition of anonymity wondered why the government has allowed BCLB to continue issuing licences in low-income areas in total contravention of the Betting and Gambling Act and without the authority of BCLB chairman.
On the other hand, Nacada chairman John Mututho stated that the expansion of the gambling craze has led to an insatiable nation shining a light on the effectiveness of the regulatory body tasked with betting. “If by accident I was named the chair of BCLB today, I would suspend all licences to give the country time to introspectively look and evaluate whether we are ready to be a gambling nation,” says Mututho.
Also to raise concern was the Chief Executive of the Kenya film Classification Board Ezekiel Mutua who said the proliferation of the gambling machines in estates has created a culture of a lost generation among the youth, looking for a “quick fix income.”
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