The complaints process a newly licensed betting site must offer

What the operator must set up before it takes a bet

Section 68(8) of the Gambling Control Act, 2025 requires an online operator to "maintain a customer care centre within Kenya to monitor and respond to issues raised by consumers". The 2026 Conduct of Gambling Operations Regulations (L.N. 112, gazetted 30 June 2026) add the detail. Regulation 9(1) says the centre must exist before operations start.

Regulation 4 of L.N. 112 requires a licensee to submit its terms and conditions to the Authority for approval. The required contents include the customer care centre, account suspension and closure, and "complaints and dispute resolution mechanisms" (r.4(2)(p), (s) and (t)). Regulation 100 repeats the point: a licensee "shall establish internal dispute resolution mechanisms approved by the Authority".

A complaints route is therefore not a courtesy a new site may add later. It sits in the same set of day-one duties as the displayed licence and the Kenyan bank account, which the list of what a newly licensed bookmaker must have walks through.

The two-day and 72-hour clocks on the operator

Regulation 9(2) of L.N. 112 sets out what the customer care centre is for. It must handle any matter arising from the licensee's gambling activities and "resolve all complaints or disputes before they are reported to the Authority" (r.9(2)(a) to (c)).

Two timings follow. Under r.9(2)(d) the centre must "report to the Authority within two days any matter raised by the public regarding the gambling activities of the licensee". Under r.9(2)(e) it must "refer any matter unresolved after seventy-two (72) hours or where the complainant requests escalation in writing to the Authority for resolution".

Read together, the operator has 72 hours to settle a complaint itself. After that, or earlier if you ask in writing, the matter goes to the Authority. A licensee that contravenes r.9 faces, on conviction, a fine of up to one million shillings, up to six months' imprisonment, or both (r.9(3)).

Unpaid winnings have their own deadlines

Many complaints are about money that has not arrived. Section 70(1) of the Act requires a licensee to credit a monetary online prize to the player's account within two days. Regulation 24(1) of L.N. 112 requires winning bets to be settled "promptly and in accordance with the published rules", and r.24(2) routes settlement disputes through dispute resolution procedures approved by the Authority.

Regulation 101 adds a fourteen-day backstop. A licensee that fails to pay winnings within fourteen days owes the Authority a penalty of 5% of the total winnings (r.101(1)). It must also pay the player the outstanding amount plus interest of 5% per day from the end of the fourteen days for the next twenty-one days (r.101(2)), and r.101(3) says non-compliance may lead to suspension of the licence.

Odds and terms decide these disputes. Regulation 23 of L.N. 112 requires a licensee to display clearly the odds, rules and terms for each bet, and forbids altering a bet's terms after acceptance except as the Act and Regulations permit. A screenshot taken when the bet was placed is therefore the core of a settlement complaint.

Stages and timings at a glance

Taking the complaint to the Authority

Section 10(m) of the Act makes it a function of the Gambling Regulatory Authority to "receive and make determination on complaints from companies and the public on matters pertaining to games of chance". The regulator's complaints page says a complainant lodges a formal complaint on a form, which may be delivered to its offices at ACK Garden Annex, 7th floor, Nairobi.

That page still refers to the former Board, and the e-mail address it gives is a BCLB-era one. Treat the e-mail as unconfirmed and use the toll-free line 0800-723-770 shown on the regulator's website to ask how to file. The same channels serve when you want to report a site rather than dispute a bet, as the guide to reporting a betting site to the Authority explains.

Neither the Act nor the Regulations as gazetted set a deadline for the Authority to decide a complaint. No such period was found in either text, so none is given here. Ask for a reference number when you lodge the complaint and note the date.

The Gambling Appeals Tribunal and its fourteen-day window

Section 88(1) of the Act establishes the Gambling Appeals Tribunal. Under s.88(9) its functions include hearing appeals against any decision of the Authority and "complaints arising out of the outcome of a gambling transaction". Two sections of the Act still call this body the Committee; it is the Tribunal.

Section 80 says a party to a dispute arising out of an online gambling activity "may appeal to the Tribunal for resolution of the dispute within fourteen days from the date of the dispute". The 2026 Gambling Appeals Tribunal Regulations (L.N. 115) then narrow the door. Under r.18 the Tribunal has no jurisdiction unless the complaint "has been first heard and determined through the Authority's administrative, review and or appellate mechanisms".

So the Authority stage comes first. The Act and the Regulations give two periods: fourteen days from the dispute under s.80, and thirty days from the Authority's decision for a memorandum of appeal under L.N. 115 r.6. Keep both in view and act within the shorter one.

The memorandum carries a filing fee of Kshs 10,000 under the Schedule to L.N. 115. The Authority must respond within twenty-one days of service (r.7), and the hearing date is served with at least seven days' notice (r.10). A person aggrieved by the Tribunal's decision may appeal to the High Court within fourteen days (s.90).

Where the operator's own licence is in question, the player-side rules differ. What happens when a new site loses its licence covers notice, player funds and the first steps to take.

What to keep as evidence

The Tribunal Regulations require an appellant to attach to the memorandum "any documentary evidence, or copy thereof, relevant to the appeal" (L.N. 115 r.4(3)). Build that file from the first message. Keep the bet ID or ticket number, a screenshot of the odds and terms at acceptance, the mobile money or bank confirmations for each deposit and withdrawal, the account balance before and after the event, and the time and date of every step.

Keep the complaint itself in writing. A written request for escalation is what triggers early referral to the Authority under r.9(2)(e), so send it as an e-mail or an in-app message you can export, not only as a phone call. Record the operator's reference numbers and the name of the agent.

Note the licence details as displayed on the platform, which s.36(3) of the Act requires every online licensee to show. The licensee must also keep records of "complaints lodged and disputes resolved" (L.N. 112 r.88(1)(d)), so you may ask for its record of your case. A site that resists these basic steps shows one of the red flags of a new betting site.

What this article does not cover

It does not say how long the Authority takes, because no period is written in the Act or the Regulations as gazetted. It does not cover disputes at land-based premises, which fall under the same r.9 duties but not under s.80, which is written for online activity. It does not cover self-exclusion requests, which have their own route under s.115 of the Act.

It also does not grade operators on how they handle complaints. This site records what the law requires and how to check it; the other guides in the guides hub cover the licence line, the domain column and the early-weeks risks.