If gambling has stopped being play
This page is for the moment when betting stops being entertainment and starts costing more than money. It gives the regulator's toll-free line, the signs that something is wrong, the self-exclusion route the law provides and the limits every licensed operator must offer. Nothing on it judges you.
Call first
The Gambling Regulatory Authority advertises a toll-free assistance line on its website: 0800-723-770. It is free to call. If you are in immediate danger or thinking of harming yourself, contact emergency services or someone you trust now, before anything else on this page.
Who this is for
Adults aged eighteen and over. Gambling is for adults of the age of majority, which in Kenya is eighteen; the Gambling Control (Conduct of Gambling Operations) Regulations, 2026 (regulation 92) keep persons under eighteen out of gambling, and section 72(3) of the Gambling Control Act, 2025 requires an operator to see proof of age of majority before registering any player. If a person under eighteen is gambling through an app, section 109 of the Act makes betting with a child an offence, and the Authority is the body to tell.
Signs that gambling is doing harm
- Betting with money set aside for rent, school fees, food or a loan repayment.
- Borrowing, selling things or taking a mobile loan to bet or to chase a loss.
- Deleting the app and reinstalling it within days.
- Hiding bets or balances from a partner or family.
- Betting to feel normal rather than to enjoy a match.
- Promising to stop and finding that you cannot.
One of these is a reason to pause. Several are a reason to call the line and to use the tools below today.
Self-exclusion under the Act
Section 115(1) of the Gambling Control Act, 2025 lets a person who recognises that their gambling is harmful voluntarily enter a self-exclusion agreement with a licensee that excludes them from all gambling establishments and all controlled games, including online gambling. Regulation 70(1) of the 2026 Conduct Regulations sets out the route: apply to the Authority on Form 1 in the First Schedule, stating the period you want and attaching a copy of your national ID or passport. The Authority acknowledges within seven days and enters you in the register (regulation 70(3)).
Form 1 offers four periods: six months, one year, two years or indefinite, and the period cannot be shortened before it expires. Once registered you may not place a bet, open a gambling account, receive promotions or claim gambling winnings (regulation 70(5)). Licensees must deny you all gambling access, refund any deposit taken in breach within seven days, cancel winnings obtained in breach and report attempts to the Authority (regulation 74(1)). A licensee must remove your details from its marketing databases within two days of the completed notification (section 115(4)(c)), and an operator that fails to implement a written self-exclusion request within seven days commits an offence (section 115(5)).
Online platforms must also offer a real-time self-exclusion mechanism of their own (regulation 67(3)), so you can shut the door inside the app tonight and file Form 1 with the Authority afterwards.
Limits every licensee must offer
Regulation 84 of the 2026 Conduct Regulations requires operators to give players real-time tools: deposit limits on a daily, weekly and monthly basis; loss, session and expenditure limits; reality checks in the form of pop-up notifications showing how long you have played; and an easy option for self-exclusion for a period of at least twenty-four hours, linked to the national self-exclusion register. No figure is set in the Act or in the Regulations as gazetted: you set the amounts. If an app offers none of these tools, that is itself a reason to doubt the app.
Two further rules protect you from pressure. Section 74(1) of the Act prohibits a licensee from providing credit to a player or making offers designed to induce people to gamble or to gamble more, and section 72(7) bars inducing a bet by advancing credit or allowing credit cards.
What to do today
- Open the app's account or responsible-gambling settings and set a daily deposit limit lower than you would like. The operator must offer it (regulation 84).
- Use the app's own self-exclusion option for at least twenty-four hours, or longer.
- Call 0800-723-770.
- Tell one person. Harm grows in silence.
- If you want the exclusion to stand with every licensee, file Form 1 with the Authority. The regulator's website says the process can also be started by visiting its offices in person.
Uninstalling an app does not close an account and does not stop marketing. Self-exclusion does both, by law.