Canadian-firm Amaya has successful unveiled Kenya’s first ever online gaming industry website. At BetKenya.com, Kenyans can try their hand at slots, table games, instant games, poker and other card games and if you play them all we’re assuming they hand you over a huge bottle of maple syrup.
David Baazov, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amaya Gaming Group, “BetKenya will provide the Kenyan government with a new source of revenue and a new capability to oversee online gaming activities in the country, while still allowing its residents to enjoy a world-class gaming experience. Amaya now operates three distinct gaming solutions in Kenya, having launched an SMS lottery and a 6/48 lottery earlier this year. We are very pleased to further strengthen our presence in the country and demonstrate our range of capabilities.”
With government controlled online gambling, there’s usually some controversy – here is no different. The release tells us that Kenya’s legion of Internet users that attempt to “access unregulated sites, both domestic and foreign-based, will soon be redirected to BetKenya.com.”
Forgive us for asking but is this actually allowed? Gaming industry regulations are in their infancy in Africa and banning international sites from serving their population might sound like a really good plan in principle. It quite simply isn’t. By banning international sites they’ll only succeed in eventually driving players into the hands of untrustworthy sites and that’s where problems arise.
Everyone’s always looking for a better deal and it’s doubtful that a government run site is going to offer a value for money over the plethora of international gaming industry sites that exist. For now, they’ll just be hoping they don’t have a PlayNow BCLC situation. That would really suck.
