Kenya Senate Flags Regulatory Gaps in Kilifi Betting Law

Kenya’s Senate has given Kilifi County one month to report on missing regulations needed to implement its Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act, as lawmakers raise wider concerns over 36 county laws that remain without complete supporting rules.

Kenya’s Senate Committee on Delegated Legislation has raised concerns over regulatory gaps affecting Kilifi County’s Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act and ordered local authorities to provide a comprehensive report within one month.

The betting legislation is among 36 county Acts and legislative instruments across eight departments for which supporting regulations have either not been developed or have not been submitted to the County Assembly for scrutiny. The affected areas also include taxation, trade, agriculture, healthcare, education and environmental regulation.

The issue was examined during a September 22 meeting between the Senate Committee on Delegated Legislation and its Kilifi County Assembly counterpart as part of the Senate Mashinani programme. Committee chairman Senator Mwenda Gataya said missing regulations were creating administrative and legal gaps that prevented county laws from being fully implemented.

The committee was particularly concerned that similar problems had already been raised during a previous visit to Kilifi in 2025 but remained unresolved. The County Executive, led at the meeting by Deputy Governor Flora Chibule, said the outstanding regulations were at different stages of development and committed to improving compliance with the required legislative process.

Kilifi’s gambling framework is intended to regulate betting, gaming and lottery activities that fall within county jurisdiction, while national gambling matters remain subject to Kenya’s wider national legislation. The original county legislation specifically distinguishes local activities from betting and gaming classified as national functions.

The Senate has now directed the County Assembly, working with the County Executive, to submit a detailed report on the outstanding regulations. For the gambling sector, the process will be important because clear implementing rules are necessary to define how local licensing, supervision and enforcement powers operate in practice.

The case also highlights a broader regulatory challenge as Kenya continues to modernise gambling oversight at both national and county levels. Closing the gaps in Kilifi’s framework could provide greater legal certainty for operators and regulators, but the immediate test will be whether the county acts on concerns that the Senate says have remained unresolved since 2025.