SportPesa Fires Over 400 Employees After Closing Kenyan Shop

Betting firm SportPesa on Wednesday fired all its employees in Kenya after losing the prolonged battle with the government and market regulators.

SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri broke the sad news to staff members in a meeting called earlier on Wednesday. The over 400 employees had to be laid off after SportPesa closed its shop in the country. The company’s rival, Betin Kenya also shut its shop in the country.

So today SportPesa management had to tell its staff what has been the inevitable for the last 3 months – the centre can't holder any longer. Massive grief seeing this entire team rendered jobless by ridiculous policies of our beloved government. #SaveMyJob pic.twitter.com/FizLR3HkGL

— Tom Bwana (@TomBwana) October 2, 2019

SportPesa’s major rival in Kenya, Betin also fired all its employees earlier in the week over redundancy citing, heavy taxation, frustration, and failure by the government to renew its operating licence. McDonald Mariga who is the face of Betin is among those who were declared redundant.

SportPesa only came as close as Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) authorization in its effort to make a resurgence to the Kenyan market.

The betting company was declared tax-compliant by KRA only to be denied a license by the Betting Control and Licensing Board.

After clearance with the taxman, SportPesa was required to apply for their license which they did almost immediately. However, the company took too long to negotiate with the regulator before finally giving up.

Apparently, SportPesa did not agree with the newly introduced 20% withholding tax.

The betting company has had problems with the proposed tax on customer stakes by the National Treasury in amendments contained in the 2019 Finance Act which currently awaits presidential accent.

SportPesa and Betin Kenya noted that they had several extensive meetings with relevant government entities regarding the company’s license renewal without much success.

In a statement to newsrooms by SportPesa, the betting company faulted former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich for the move terming it a misunderstanding of how revenue generation works in the bookmarker industry.

“Further compounded by the currently in-effect 20, withholding tax on winnings, the economic incentive to place bets will be completely removed as the taxes deprive consumers of their total winnings,” read the statement by SportPesa.

According to SportPesa, the move will have severe consequences on betting firms, a decline in government tax revenue to near zero and will halt all investments in sports in Kenya.

Despite exiting the Kenyan Market, SportPesa will still be operational in other countries including Tanzania, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The company set up shops in those countries growing rapidly in the Kenyan Market.

Kevin Namunwa is a reporter with Business Today. He is interested in Business, Entertainment, and Sports. You can find him on email at