How to verify that a betting app comes from a licensed operator in Kenya

What counts as a licensed betting app in Kenya?

Section 28(1) of the Gambling Control Act, 2025 says no person may offer a gambling activity or service unless it is licensed under the Act. The app on your phone is only a shop window. The licence belongs to a company, and the five checks below tie the app back to that company.

Section 67(1) of the Act sets out three online licences: online bookmaker, online lottery and online casino. Section 36(3) requires the holder of an online gambling licence to display that licence on its online platform. For the wider picture of store apps, APK files and copies, read how to tell a licensed betting app from a fake in Kenya.

What do you need before you start?

You need the app or its download link, a pen or a notes app, and the regulator's list at gra.go.ke/licensed-operators/. The page is headed "Licensed Gaming Companies for the Trading Period 2025/26". On 29 October 2026 it held 187 operator rows.

The list has eight columns as published: No., Operators Name, Trading Name, BK, PG, PL, STATUS and DOMAINS. The page does not explain BK, PG or PL. The column headed BK carries bookmaker licence numbers; the Act's licence categories include bookmaking, public gambling and public lotteries.

This site's app check table of licensed operators and their domains repeats the same columns. The summary below shows the list as it stood when this guide was written.

The five checks, in order

Work through the checks in this order and write down what each one shows. Steps 1 and 2 apply to store apps, Step 3 to APK files, and Steps 4 and 5 to every app.

Step 1: Read the developer name on the store listing

Google Play shows a developer name on every listing. Google's Play Console help says this public developer name can be different from the developer's legal name. A brand name in that spot is normal, but it still has to lead to a company on the list.

Compare the developer name with both the Operators Name and the Trading Name columns. Many rows pair a company with a different brand: row 1 lists Shop & Deliver Limited under Operators Name and Betika under Trading Name.

On an iPhone, Apple's App Review Guideline 5.1.1(ix) says apps in highly regulated fields, gambling among them, should be submitted by the legal entity that provides the service rather than by an individual developer. A private person's name as the developer of an iPhone betting app does not fit that rule.

Step 2: Open the website field under App support

Google's help page on contacting a developer gives the route. Open the app's detail page, tap App support, then scroll to the contact information the developer listed.

Write down the website's domain, which is the part before the first slash. Compare it with the DOMAINS cell of the row you found in Step 1. Ignore "www." and "https://" when you compare, because the list writes some cells with them and some without.

A website that belongs to a different brand from the one in the row is a mismatch. So is a support page hosted on a free blog or a social media profile with no domain of its own.

Step 3: For an APK, note the domain it came from

An APK file has no store listing, so the download address is the only link to an operator. Before you install, look at the browser's address bar on the page that served the file. It should show the same domain the list gives for that operator.

A file passed on in a chat group, through a link shortener or on a file-sharing site has no operator domain to compare. Android treats every such file as an app from an unknown source, and what Android warns you about when you download a betting APK explains those prompts.

Step 4: Read the footer of the operator's website

Because section 36(3) obliges an online licensee to display its licence on its platform, look for a licence number and a company name. Check the foot of the website and the app's terms screen.

Regulation 8(c) of the Gambling Control (Advertising) Regulations, 2026 (L.N. 114) also requires every approved advert to show the licensee's licence number, name and address. Compare any number you find with the BK, PG and PL cells of the row. A number that appears in no row of the list is a mismatch.

Step 5: Find the row on the regulator's list

Search the list for the trading name first, then the company name, then the domain. The row you want should carry the same company, brand and domain you collected in Steps 1 to 4. Note the STATUS cell, which reads Renewal or New, and the trading period in the heading.

Regulation 11(2)(g) of the Gambling Control (Licensing) Regulations, 2026 (L.N. 111) requires an online licence application to name the proposed platform, domain name and games provider. That is why the domain carries more weight than a logo or the colours of an app.

What does a mismatch mean?

Regulation 102(2) of the Gambling Control (Conduct of Gambling Operations) Regulations, 2026 (L.N. 112) defines an illegal gambling platform as any website, application, digital device or electronic system that offers gambling without the authorisation, licence or approval the law requires. Under section 98 of the Act, a first offence of operating gambling without a valid licence carries a fine of up to three million shillings, up to three years in prison, or both.

A mismatch does not prove fraud on its own. It means you cannot tie the app to a licence, so you cannot count on the duties a licensee owes its players. The guide to the signs of a clone betting app helps you tell a copy from a renamed brand, and reporting a fake betting app in Kenya lists where to send what you found.

What this check cannot tell you

The list is a snapshot. The regulator's site records its last change on 19 March 2026, before the 2026 Regulations were gazetted on 30 June 2026. Regulation 30 of L.N. 111 kept licences issued under the repealed Act in force for only sixty days from that publication, and holders had to apply again.

Under the Fourth Schedule of L.N. 111, an online gambling licence now runs for one year. The list publishes no expiry dates, so a row shows that a licence was listed for 2025/26, not that it is current today. If the date matters, call the toll-free line 0800-723-770, as shown on the regulator's website.

A match says nothing about the file itself either. A clone can copy a real brand's name and logo, which is why the developer and domain checks come first. How Google screens betting apps before they appear in its store is covered in Google Play's rules for betting apps in Kenya.