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{
"id": 933145,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/933145/?format=api",
"text_counter": 365,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Machakos Town, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Victor Munyaka",
"speaker": {
"id": 86,
"legal_name": "Victor Kioko Munyaka",
"slug": "victor-munyaka"
},
"content": "Secondly, this Bill establishes the National Gaming Authority with representation from the Council of Governors where the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act establishes the Betting Control and Licensing Board whose membership excluded representation from the county governments. Thirdly, the Bill addresses the issues of online gaming under Part VII of the Bill. That is something which is not addressed in the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act. Whereas the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act does not provide for the national lottery, this Bill provides for the establishment of the national lottery under Clauses 70 to 78. Part IX of the Bill provides for the conduct of the national lottery. Part X of this Bill establishes the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, from Clauses 89 to 100. The purpose of the Fund is to retain and distribute the proceeds of the national lottery which will go to assist activities of good cause like sports. The Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act do not establish such a fund. The Bill also establishes the Gaming Appeals Tribunal to resolve disputes between parties and for persons to appeal to it. The Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act provide for an appeal to the High Court, which may take a lot of time to resolve disputes. However, the committee will be proposing an amendment at the Committee of the whole House to have disputes resolved by a gaming appeals committee, which will be able to resolve disputes faster. The Bill has expanded provisions on various offences, which are now stiffer. Whereas the existing Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act has penalties which are very low and non-effective, the penalties proposed in the Bill are fines ranging between Kshs250,000 to Kshs2 million; whereas the ones in the existing Act are non-punitive. They range between Kshs3,000 to Kshs10,000, making it very difficult to control and regulate gaming in Kenya. Public participation is a constitutional imperative. In this regard, the Committee called for submission of memoranda through the Daily Nation, The Standard and The Star newspapers on 17th June 2019 and received memoranda from the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB), the National Treasury, KRA, CA, Directorate of Gaming and Betting of Nairobi County, the Velex Advisory Limited, the Kenya Charity Sweepstake, the Association of Gaming Operators- Kenya, Game Code Limited, Anjarwalla and Khanna Advocates, the White Rhino Ventures, Shop and Deliver, and the Gaming Awareness Society of Kenya. There were public hearings that the Committee conducted in order to receive comments on the Bill from stakeholders. The Committee conducted public hearings in Mombasa, Kwale, Kisumu, and Nairobi, Kakamega, Uasin Gishu, Nyeri and Meru counties. The Committee received considerable representations on the Bill, both through memoranda and public hearings it conducted. The Committee also considered representations it received on the Bill. Where it agreed to proposed amendments, it indicated so; and where it rejected proposed amendments, it gave its reasons. The Committee also sent delegations for study visits to the UK and Nevada, Las Vegas in the US in order to learn best practices on the regulation of gaming with a view to enriching the Bill. In the UK study visit that was conducted between 14th and 18th October, the study visit had specific objectives: (a) To meet with the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sports, with a view to learning the UK’s regulatory landscape on gambling. The role of the"
}