Betting or casino site? Check before you deposit

Seven checks

1. It prints a Kenyan licence statement. Scroll to the bottom of the site. A Kenyan licensed operator names the company, the regulator (GRA, or the older BCLB) and licence numbers. No statement, or only a foreign licence, means it is not licensed in Kenya as far as you can tell.
2. You pay a business, never a person. Deposits go to a paybill or till. When M-PESA shows the confirmation screen, the name should be the operator or its company. A person's name, or a request to send money to a phone number, means stop.
3. No agents on WhatsApp, Telegram or Facebook. Nobody needs a middleman to top up your account. "Agents" who take your money and promise to load it for you, or who sell "sure odds" or "hacks" for crash games, are the most common way Kenyans lose money to fake sites.
4. Withdrawal rules are published. A real operator publishes its minimum and maximum withdrawals and the channels it pays to. If you cannot find them, or they only appear after you deposit, do not deposit.
5. Tax is mentioned, not hidden. Kenyan licensed operators deduct a 5% excise on deposits and, since 1 July 2026, a 20% withholding tax on winnings plus 5% on money paid out. A site that never mentions Kenyan tax is likely operating from outside Kenya.
6. It offers deposit limits and self-exclusion. GRA says it is a legal requirement for gambling companies to provide self-exclusion. If you cannot find limits or self-exclusion in the account settings or the responsible gaming page, treat that as a failed check.
7. You test small first. Deposit the smallest amount the site allows, then withdraw it. Only once the money is back in your M-PESA do you know the withdrawal side works.

If you already sent money

• If M-PESA showed a person's name, start a reversal straight away; see how to reverse an M-PESA transaction.
• Report the number to Safaricom by forwarding the scam SMS to 333.
• Report the site to GRA through its complaints page.

For licensed operators, our licence check guide shows what each main operator prints about its own licence. And if betting has stopped being fun, see our responsible gambling guide.