Kenya Court Lets Gambling Licensing Resume After Partial Stay Lift
Kenya's gambling regulator can resume licensing operators after the High Court partly lifted a stay order that had frozen the country's new gambling rules.
Justice William Musyoka eased the order in early August, keeping only the most contested measures on hold: sharply higher licence fees and new capital requirements.
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What The Court Decided
In July 2026, Justice Musyoka issued a stay against the Gambling Control (Licensing) Regulations 2026 after a legal challenge by Thomas Buckley Opar Owuor and Ken Brance.
The full stay left the sector in what the new Gambling Regulatory Authority described as a regulatory vacuum in which unlicensed operators could work without oversight.
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On a request from the government and the authority, the court agreed to keep only the higher fees and capital rules suspended. The regulator can now receive and process licence applications, run due diligence on operators and carry out anti-money laundering and consumer-protection checks.
The Fees At The Centre Of The Case
Kenya has overhauled gambling laws dating back to 1966, replacing the Betting Control and Licensing Board with the Gambling Regulatory Authority.
Under the Gambling Control (Licensing) Regulations 2026, the application fee for an online bookmaker licence is set at KSh5 million and the licence fee at KSh50 million, with licences now running for three years instead of annual renewals.
A new gambling capital requirement of KSh100 million applies to online bookmakers and online casino operators. Before the overhaul, operators typically paid a little over KSh10,000 to apply and between about KSh400,000 and KSh1 million a year.
The initial legal challenge argued that the increases, some of them very large, could force smaller operators to close and put jobs at risk.
What Happens Next?
The substantive judicial review continues. Written submissions are due by September 21, 2026 and a full judgment is scheduled for October 2, 2026, when the court will rule on whether the suspended fees and capital rules can stand.
Until then, the regulator is expected to issue guidance on which licence fees apply in the interim.
