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{
    "id": 1348034,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1348034/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Gambling, like tobacco, alcohol, prostitution, drugs, junk food and all the other demerit goods tend to present challenges to many governments. Their consumption is generally considered to be socially unacceptable or undesirable but at the same time, it is almost impossible to stamp them out completely because of their perceived negative effects to the consumers. Consequently, a balance has to be struck as to how to limit their over-consumption to mitigate cases of addiction, damage to health and dysfunctional social life they cause plus also a lot of external costs to third parties. Gambling also provides avenue for emerging and transnational crimes like tax evasion, money laundering and financing of terrorism. In Kenya today, the gross revenue for gambling is in excess of US$250 million, and the sector is growing at 27 per cent to 30 per cent annually. You can imagine how much money is circulating in it. This particular Bill also seeks to establish the Gambling Authority of Kenya, the Gambling Appeals Tribunal and a gambling tax, which as you have heard, the Leader of the Majority Party would like to propose a higher regime. From our analysis, gambling tax ranges from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. So, we will debate that aspect at the right time. The Bill seeks to generate revenue for good causes, including promotion and development of activities related to culture, sports, arts, recreation, heritage and protection of vulnerable groups such as Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), old people and orphans. More importantly, the Bill seeks to protect and rehabilitate people with problems of gambling, the environment, climate change, relief, innovation, education, entrepreneurship, libraries and supporting emergencies. We also looked at the policy and incorporated certain safety measures that will help create sanity in this sector. For instance, we are proposing restriction on gambling advertisement both by news companies and gambling companies. We are also restricting gambling advertisement in terms of the times and the regime of how gambling advertisement should be handled so as to protect children and other vulnerable groups."
}