This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
Sportpesa return to market put on hold
- The Kenyan betting site announced on Friday that it was back in business
- The return will take a while as the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB)on Saturday suspended the license of Milestone Gaming Limited which was to operate as Sportpesa
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19
Sportpesa return to market put on hold.
Kenyan Betting firm Sportpesa will wait a little longer to get back to operations after the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) suspended the license of Milestone Gaming Limited which was to operate as Sportpesa on Saturday.
This comes less than 24 hours after the popular betting firm announced its return to the market.
Safaricom and the Communications Authority of Kenya have also been ordered to suspend SportPesa’s pay bill number 955700, 9555700 until a matter in court over the use of the brand name SportPesa is determined.
“According to information in our possession, the tradename ‘Sportpesa’ belongs to M/s Pevans East Africa Limited. The said company has filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal in Nairobi no. 471 of 2019. The matter before the Court of Appeal contests the issuance of the gaming license to Pevans East Africa t/a Sportpesa. The matter is scheduled to be heard on November 16, 2020,” BCLB chairman Cyrus Maina wrote to Milestone’s operations manager Bernard Chauro on Friday.
“You are therefore prohibited from using the trade name ‘Sportpesa’, domains www.ke.sportpesa.com, www.sportpesa.co.ke, short codes 29050 and 79079, Pay Bill numbers 521521, 9555700 and 955700 until such a time when the Court of Appeal shall make a determination on the pending appeal and until the Board considers your request to use them.”
The regulator said Milestone is free to continue trading as “Milestone Bet”, through the domains www.milestonebet.co.ke, www.milestonegames.co.ke, and www.milestonegames.com.
Mr Maina added that the decision to ban Milestone from using the Sportpesa brand name and technological infrastructure was made to avoid confusion among the general public.
The firm shut down operations back in October 2019 in what it referred to as a ‘hostile working environment’. They would then send home over 400 employees as well as leave thousands of sports betting fanatics in confusion.
While shutting down in 2019, Sportpesa said it would resume operations when Kenya puts in place “adequate taxation and non-hostile regulatory environment”.
