Kenya's new Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) has plenty of work ahead of it.
It must license and supervise gambling operators, enforce the country's new gambling laws, ensure companies comply with regulations and take action against operators that break the rules.
There will also inevitably be considerable attention on gambling revenue and the industry's contribution to government finances.
Of course, all of these matter, and can be very tasking, especially given the vast number of betting operators in Kenya, but they should not overshadow what should arguably be the most important responsibility of Kenya's new gambling regulator: protecting and educating the people who gamble.
Success should not simply mean having a well-regulated industry on paper. It should mean fewer children gambling, better-informed adult players, stronger protection for vulnerable people and effective tools for those who recognise that their gambling is becoming harmful.
Gambling Regulation Cannot Be About Revenue Alone
Gambling generates some serious revenue for the government. A properly regulated gambling industry can also provide employment and economic activity. The government therefore has legitimate reasons to ensure that licensed gambling businesses operate within a clear regulatory and taxation framework.
But gambling is not an ordinary consumer product.
It involves financial risk, can become harmful for some participants and must be kept away from children. That creates responsibilities beyond taxation and licensing. A regulator could theoretically collect every licence fee, punish every unlicensed operator and ensure taxes are paid while still failing the people it is supposed to protect.
The better measure is what happens to players.
Are they better informed about the risks of gambling? Are minors effectively prevented from participating? Can people experiencing gambling-related harm easily find help? Do players understand concepts such as odds, house edge and return to player? And are responsible-gambling tools actually available and effective? These should become important measures of the GRA's performance.
Player Education Should Start Before the First Bet
One of the most powerful forms of player protection is education.
Gambling advertising naturally focuses on the possibility of winning. Regulation can help ensure consumers also understand the other side of that equation.
Players should understand that gambling involves risk and that outcomes are uncertain. Casino players should understand concepts such as return to player and house edge. Sports bettors should understand that odds are not simply predictions but prices containing an operator's margin.
Players should also be taught to recognise dangerous gambling behaviours: chasing losses, borrowing money to gamble, gambling with money required for essential expenses or continuously increasing stakes in an attempt to recover previous losses.
The 2026 regulatory framework already envisages public-awareness and education campaigns covering responsible gambling, self-exclusion and the rights of winners. That should become a major part of the Authority's public-facing work.
Player education should not exist only on a regulator's website. Information can be delivered through operators, schools and appropriate youth-awareness programmes, social media, traditional media and public campaigns.
The objective should not be to tell adults that they cannot gamble. It should be to ensure that adults who choose to gamble understand what they are doing and the risks involved.
Eradicating Underage Gambling Must Be a Priority
There is one group for whom the message should be completely different: children.Underage gambling should have no place in Kenya's regulated gambling industry.
The Gambling Control Act specifically requires protection measures against underage gambling as part of gambling-control systems. It also requires measures addressing vulnerability, awareness and education, responsible advertising and data protection.
The challenge is making those protections work in practice.
Simply writing "18+" on an advertisement or website is not enough.
Operators need effective age-verification systems. Regulators need to test whether those systems actually prevent minors from opening and using accounts. Marketing practices should be monitored to ensure gambling is not being deliberately presented in ways designed to attract children.
There should also be education.
Young people should understand why gambling is age-restricted and the risks associated with it before they are old enough to become customers. Preventing underage gambling is an area where regulators, gambling companies, parents, schools and wider society all have roles to play.
For the GRA, however, the objective should be unambiguous: licensed gambling must be for adults.
Make Player Outcomes the Measure of Success
This is ultimately the standard Kenya should set for its new regulator. Licence numbers are measurable. Tax revenue is measurable. Fines and enforcement actions are measurable.
Player protection should be measurable too.
The GRA should increasingly ask: Are fewer minors accessing gambling? How many people know about self-exclusion? Are responsible-gambling interventions working? Are players becoming better informed about gambling risks? Are consumer complaints being resolved? Are people experiencing gambling-related harm able to find appropriate support?
Publishing data around these areas would also allow the public to see whether the new regulatory framework is producing meaningful results. Kenya has an opportunity to build a gambling regulatory system that recognises an important distinction.
The gambling industry exists because people gamble. Without players, there are no operators to license, gambling taxes to collect or regulations to enforce. That makes protecting those players more than one item on the GRA's long list of responsibilities. It should be at the heart of them.
Kenya's new gambling regulator must strive to build a safer, more transparent and more responsible gambling industry. That work should start with education, continue with protection and ultimately be judged by what it achieves for the player.
