{"id":11075,"date":"2026-07-23T05:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/kenya-court-halts-new-gambling-licensing-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:31:00","slug":"kenya-court-halts-new-gambling-licensing-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/kenya-court-halts-new-gambling-licensing-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya Court Halts New Gambling Licensing Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Kenya faces a temporary gap in gambling licensing after the High Court suspended new regulations over a constitutional challenge linked to public participation.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong><em>Good to Know<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>The interim order blocks the Gambling Control Licensing Regulations 2026.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Claimants say final capital requirements exceeded figures published for consultation.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>The case returns to the High Court on September 21.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong>Kenya Gambling Licensing Put on Hold<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Justice William Musyoka issued the stay on Monday after Thomas Buckley Opar Owuor and Ken Brance filed a case against the new framework.<\/p>\n<p>Owuor leads Buckley Owuor &#038; Co Advocates in Nairobi County and previously worked as Sportpesa business development director.<\/p>\n<p>The order leaves the Gambling Regulatory Authority without an active licensing system for regulated operators. The broader Gambling Control Act remains in force, but the rules needed to issue and manage licences cannot take effect while the stay continues.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cReally, this is a big blow, because the new law has already come into operation,\u201d<\/em> McKay Advocates partner David Sarinke said.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cNow we are lacking a licensing framework, and depending on how long it will take, it\u2019s going to be a few more months to sort of move forward.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Capital Rules Drive Constitutional Case<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The claim focuses on higher capital and fee requirements included in the final regulations. Sarinke said some figures were increased after public consultation had ended.<\/p>\n<p>Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya treats public participation as a national governance principle. The applicants argue that adding new financial conditions without another consultation breached that requirement.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAs soon as you have filed a case to object to a law coming into operation, then the court normally gives you orders to stop any implementation, especially if your grounding is based on some constitutional principles,\u201d<\/em> Sarinke said.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe grounding is on a very key constitutional principle of public participation, which in my assessment is going to really affect the chances in terms of [the case] succeeding, because they\u2019re saying that after publication there were other aspects added that were not subjected to public participation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The applicants also claim higher costs could force operators to close, reduce investment, cut jobs and lower gambling tax revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Kenya introduced the Gambling Control Act to replace legislation dating from 1966. Oversight also transferred from the Betting Control and Licensing Board to the new Gambling Regulatory Authority.<\/p>\n<p>Owuor and Brance now have 14 days to file a full judicial review motion. The regulator, government and Association of Gaming Operators Kenya will then receive 14 days to respond.<\/p>\n<p>The interim order remains active until the court issues another direction. The Gambling Regulatory Authority has not commented publicly.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/casino-news\/kenya-court-halts-new-gambling-licensing-rules\/\">Kenya Court Halts New Gambling Licensing Rules<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/\">iGaming.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kenya faces a temporary gap in gambling licensing after the High Court suspended new regulations over a constitutional challenge linked to public participation. Good to Know The interim order blocks the Gambling Control Licensing Regulations 2026. Claimants say final capital requirements exceeded figures published for consultation. The case returns to the High Court on September [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}