This archive report was first published on 12 July 2019.
On July 12, 2019, the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) ordered Safaricom to suspend M-Pesa pay bills and SMS short codes for 27 betting firms, including SportPesa and Betin, due to non-renewal of their operating licenses.
According to the directive, the 27 firms have failed to meet undisclosed licensing requirements and are being vetted to determine their fitness to hold gambling permits.
As a result, Safaricom suspended SportPesa's paybill number 955700, prompting users who tried to load money onto the number to contact their betting companies.
When we attempted to send money to SportPesa's paybill number, we received a response from Safaricom stating: 'Failed. Dear Customer, this Paybill is unavailable due to the Government directive to suspend Betting Paybill numbers. Kindly contact your Betting Company.'
It remains unclear whether Safaricom has pulled pay numbers for other betting companies on the list.
