Kenya’s Gambling Regulatory Authority takeover nears as BCLB transition heads for end-February finish

With annual licensing still on hold, Kenya’s gambling sector is entering the final stretch of a regulatory handover that will move oversight from the Betting Control and Licensing Board to the new Gambling Regulatory Authority.

Kenya’s Gambling Control Act, 2025 (Act No. 14 of 2025) created the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) as the country’s new statutory regulator for betting, casinos and other gambling activities, setting the legal basis for replacing the long-standing BCLB framework.

The countdown matters because the BCLB previously announced a moratorium on processing annual gambling licence applications — covering both renewals and new applications — to support the transition. In that public notice (dated 2 October 2025), operators were told they could continue operating under existing licence terms until expiry, while the regulator said the handover was scheduled to be completed by the end of February 2026, with a further communication to confirm the GRA’s official commencement and the restart of licensing under the new regime.

In parallel, the new Authority has been building out leadership capacity, including a recruitment process for a Director General/CEO earlier this month — a signal that Kenya wants the new regulator fully staffed as it moves from transition into day-to-day oversight and enforcement.

For operators and suppliers, the immediate watch-items are the timing and content of the GRA’s implementing regulations and the exact restart conditions for licensing. The final weeks of the handover will set the tone for how consistently Kenya applies the new framework across both land-based and online gambling verticals.