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{
    "id": 1231101,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1231101/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 229,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kericho County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Beatrice Kemei",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I do not believe in betting, gambling and lottery because of my Christian background. The Book of 1st Timothy 16 talks about the love of money being the root of all evil. This tells us that people would want to have money in an easy way. They are not only getting money. Somebody puts in Ksh10 or Ksh50 and expects to win hundreds, thousands or even millions of shillings. This one has a negative impact on our society. I have very many examples. I remember that when Lotto lottery was started in Kericho sometime back, many women would leave their houses very early in the morning to go and bet, but they would not win. When they got back home, they would be beaten by their husbands. I know of a very close neighbour of mine whom I had to go and rescue. I requested the husband not to chase her away. She was being chased away because of betting. When I talked to her, I realised that she was capable of doing many other things, but she concentrated on betting, ending up losing a lot of money. Some would even leave their children without food and even at lunchtime, they would still be very busy betting. So, you can imagine the negative impact of betting on the family unit in our society. One lady spent Ksh20,000 meant for school fees on betting. When she was asked where the money was, she lied that she lost it. She claimed that she did not know who went to the house and stole it. When we looked at it critically, it was out of betting. Betting has caused a lot of agony in our society. People have not used the God-given opportunities of working in the farms, doing business and empowerment of any form, but instead, they look for easy money. I look at it as robbery with no violence. I do not know how much tax the people operating gaming businesses pay. I have read somewhere that there are regulations to be put in place by the KRA to levy a 15 per cent tax on betting. I do not know when the implementation of the regulations will take place. Maybe, 20 per cent of the winnings should also be withheld as tax. This idea has not taken any form. I must say that there is need to look at the social and economic impact of gaming on society. We understand the cost of living is high and people are looking for any means of getting money, but people have to work for the same. Betting is very addictive and people get depressed when they do not gain from it. Others develop migraine headaches because of anxiety and anxiety-related problems that come with it. The Government should seriously look at how to regulate this business. We have talked about radio and television stations that advertise the same every day. I was in one of the stations sometime back talking about how the youths have gone astray. I mentioned betting as one of the causes. The person who was in the studio gave me a serious look. I withdrew because I knew I would not be given time to conclude what I was saying. When I asked later, I was told that the radio station workers were paid from proceeds of gaming. I wonder how much tax they pay out of the collections they make."
}