National Assembly Members of Parliament (MPs) on Wednesday, April 12, set in motion a move to crack down on select radio and TV stations in the country to curb the gambling menace.
Nyeri Town MP, Duncan Mathenge, tabled the motion in Parliament, with Emurua Dikirr MP, Johanna Ng’eno, seconding.
“There is an emerging trend of media houses offering their audiences platforms to participate in betting through lottery-style games, trivia shows, polls, contests and other SMS-based gaming.
“The trend was initially perceived as a harmless form of entertainment and audience engagement but has since developed into a problem within our communities leading to many Kenyans getting addicted to this form of gambling, which has led to lots of loss,” Mathenge noted in his opening statement.
The first-term legislator remarked that there were a lot of numerous negative effects that were associated with betting games conducted by media stations.
Some of the effects he stated include; financial ruin, family breakups, high truancy in schools resulting in high school dropout rates and, in some cases, suicide.
“These games target individuals who can least afford to lose money, mainly the elderly, the youth and low-income earners,” the MP added.
Due to the aforementioned negative effects, the MP proposed the parliament pass a bill to regulate media stations on their gambling advertising scope.
“The National Government through relevant ministries and agencies should regulate the running of lotteries and any other forms of betting disguised as polls, contests and other SMS-based gaming by media houses,” Mathenge proposed.
He further added, “The government to ensure strict operationalisation of the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act and increase control and oversight of the betting industry.”
In support of the motion, Ng’eno stated that radio and TV stations participating in these betting must acquire licences as betting companies.
“I have heard the Deputy President of this country talking about illicit drinks, which is almost removing a whole generation of young men.
“The same situation is happening in the betting industry. Even students who are in school do not get time to read as they are waiting for results to know whether they have won or not,” Ng’eno remarked in his support of the motion.
