Soccer Betting = SportPesa

You take SportPesa out, and you almost kill sports betting. Only Betin could try to fit into SportPesa’s shoes, but it too has been taken out.
These other sites just don’t measure up. At least with SportPesa, the jackpot winners looked real. And you could win a real bonus if you got 15 out of 17 correct. And there was a guarantee if you placed a bet and it came true, SportPesa would pay you, automatically (although at times, if you are too successful, they would start the ‘half won’ thingy).
Betika? :wink: It is trial and error, to put it kindly.
It is sad to see success being punished. This is why Africa will never develop. Just because SportPesa worked itself to the top of the rack, it has to be gotten rid of, in favor of betting firms that are apparently connected to politicians. Which would be alright if those other betting firms were up to the required standard.

At least these sports betting firms would get money out of the informal economy to the formal economy where it could get taxed. Now that money will remain in the informal economy where it will be totally inaccessible by the taxman. It is a pity to see the government’s greed doing it in.

Annual betting revenues of almost Sh200 billion. Most of it being shipped overseas.
That is the height of stupidity for a poor country. No wonder there is no money circulating in Kenya.

If I was the one deciding, these would be my two requirements:

  1. A betting company must be 99% owned by Kenyans.
  2. Government keeps 90% of revenue in taxes.

wait matiangi is named acting cs finance, hizi withdrawal symptoms zenyu za gambling mtazimaliza,

I don’t agree. Don’t kill entrepreneurship through taxation. Let them pay corporate tax. But they must declare all their earnings. And the government must audit quarterly or so. And they can only deduct expenses accumulated in the country. And you also have to make sure, any Kenyan who wins has no arrears with KRA. Otherwise withhold the winnings. Something that’s very easy to do nowadays with a few clicks on a computer.

Matiang’i is an over-rated bully, who does a great deal of harm in every ministry he is taken to. Like a 5-yr-old, he wants to impress without thinking through the consequences.

How much is spent on beauty products annually? How is shipped by Vodacom to wherever annually? How much is shipped by Diaggeo (EABL owners) to wherever annually? Think, my friend think.

i have designed a new IQ test: anyone who gets impressed by Matiang’s and Magoha’s antics is of double digit IQ (as in, seriously, below 100).

Sportpesa na betin zilikua juu, hizi zingine hazitoshi mboga

There are wholly Kenyan-owned betting firms. But they tend to be pure scams…

Why should the government protect an ‘entrepreneurship’ that doesn’t add anything to the economy. And actually takes away from the economy?
There is a reason why the lottery in the US is run by state governments, with revenue going to education.

SportPesa makes 99% of its revenue in Kenya, then spreads it around the world.

Whenever there is a budget shortfall, the first thing to get a tax hike is alcohol.
Also, brewing is a big business with a very huge direct and indirect workforce. From the sorghum farmers to the factory floor workers. Tens of thousands.

Sportpesa is a company that can operate flawlessly with less than 30 people. Most of their IT is outsourced overseas.
Yet it makes more money than EABL.

The government must collect its sin tax. It should be nothing short of 90%.

You are confusing a lot of concepts here. Sport betting is much more of gambling(%)than a lottery system. In a lottery, almost all the collection goes back to the winner(s). In gambling, only the house wins. SportPesa is in the gambling business. A separate set of laws should apply. Also think about something. How can you tax someone 90%, when his ROI is 70%. And since you bring up the States, I hope you realize that online betting is ( has been) illegal there.

Zibaki ama zitolewe it’s not an issue.

Office space, a handful of workers, marketing. I would not be surprised if Sportpesa’s profit margin is 98%.
Government should take almost all of it. If for no other reason, to discourage everyone and their uncle from setting up a gambling company every other day and destroying the country.

Also, I don’t know where you mistakenly heard that lottery money goes to winners.
US Powerball retains over 50% of all staked amount as profit. This is the money that funds education in some states.

there was always the charity sweepstake in kenya, not sure it if still exists - lakini I am sure the us has a very big privately owned gambling industry

It’s very regulated and even illegal in some states.
Also, the US is not a shithole where 90% of gamblers see it as a way out of poverty.

Plus I’m pretty sure there is no capital flight in the US.
Most gambling operations are owned by Americans, with profits remaining in their economy.

Your arguments are good but remember not to make blatant assumptions. Anything more than 85% is laughable. It’s way more than office space and IT . Have you ever heard of Data Rights? Do you know that you need to buy rights to commercially publish or use a teams scores? Start from there.

No sportpesa no betting. A friend has a company that makes money around the betting ecosystem. He was telling me that his revenues have gone down to zero.
Sportpesa was honestly the mother. Betika I hear cancel successful betslips while the others always come up with excuses not to pay.
If sportpesa won’t be allowed to operate, betting in Kenya will die a slow death.

Kuna mtu nliambia hapa Kenyans have a penchant for running away with fellow Kenyans money.