Help, limits and self-exclusion
If betting is costing you money, sleep or peace at home, you can act on it today. The toll-free assistance line shown on the regulator's website is 0800-723-770. Every online licensee must let you exclude yourself in real time, and the Gambling Control Act, 2025 gives you a route to block yourself from every licensed operator at once. This page sets out each step and the rule that creates it.
If you want to stop today
- Call 0800-723-770. It is the toll-free assistance line shown on the Gambling Regulatory Authority's website, gra.go.ke.
- Exclude yourself on the platform you use. Regulation 67(3) of the Gambling Control (Conduct of Gambling Operations) Regulations, 2026 (L.N. 112) requires a licensee to provide a real-time self-exclusion mechanism on an online platform, and regulation 84(2) requires an easy option to step away for at least twenty-four hours. Look for it in your account settings. At a betting shop, the exclusion must take effect as soon as your written request is received.
- Block every licensed operator at once. Apply to the Authority on Form 1 under regulation 70(1) of L.N. 112. The steps are in the table below.
- Move the money out of reach. Withdraw what is left in a betting wallet and remove saved payment details from the app. Once you are self-excluded, section 115(4)(d) of the Act requires a licensee to close your accounts and return any funds it holds.
- Tell one person you trust. Someone who knows the plan can hold you to it on the day a slip looks tempting.
Signs that betting has started to cause harm
Section 115(1) of the Act speaks of a person who recognises that their gambling is harmful. Only you can decide that. The list below is not a diagnosis, but if several lines sound familiar, the steps above are worth taking now rather than after the next slip.
- You stake money that was meant for rent, food, school fees or a debt.
- You bet again to win back what you lost last week.
- You borrow, or sell something, to pay for a slip.
- You spend longer or more than you meant to, and it keeps happening.
- You hide slips, statements or messages from the people you live with.
- You feel restless or short-tempered on the days you do not bet.
- You see the next jackpot as the way out of a money problem.
- A near miss, 12 or 13 correct, feels like proof that the next slip will land.
- You keep paying for predictions to make up for the slips that lost.
Why a jackpot can be hard to put down
A jackpot stake is small and the prize is large, so a weekly slip can feel harmless. The arithmetic does not move with the habit. A 13-leg slip with three results per match has 3 to the power of 13, or 1,594,323, possible combinations, and a 17-leg slip has 129,140,163. Illustrative example: if every result were equally likely, one line on 13 legs would win once in 1,594,323 tries. A line that missed by one leg last week starts from the same count this week, because nothing carries over. Bonuses for near misses keep a slip feeling close, and no paid prediction changes the count. The odds calculator shows the figure for any slip.
Self-exclusion under the Act
Section 115(1) of the Gambling Control Act, 2025 lets a person enter a self-exclusion agreement with a licensee to be excluded from all gambling establishments and controlled games, including online gambling. Under section 115(2) and (3) the Authority is notified, keeps a register and tells every licensee. The Regulations as gazetted set out the procedure.
| Step | What happens | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| Apply | Fill in Form 1, state the period you want, and attach a copy of your national ID or passport | L.N. 112 regulation 70(1)-(3) and the First Schedule |
| Choose a period | Six months, one year, two years or indefinite; the period cannot be shortened before it ends | L.N. 112 First Schedule, Form 1, Part C |
| Receipt | The Authority acknowledges receipt within seven days | L.N. 112 regulation 70(3) |
| Marketing stops | Each licensee removes your name and contact details from its marketing databases within two days of the completed notification | Section 115(4)(c) of the Act |
| Accounts close | A licensee closes your accounts and returns the funds it holds | Section 115(4)(d) |
| While you are excluded | You may not place a bet, open a gambling account, receive promotions or claim gambling winnings | L.N. 112 regulation 70(5) |
| If an operator lets you in | It must refund deposits taken in breach within seven days, cancel winnings obtained that way and report the attempt to the Authority | L.N. 112 regulation 74(1) |
| If an operator ignores a written request | Failing to implement it within seven days is an offence, with a fine of up to KES 1,000,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both | Section 115(5) |
The Authority's offices are at ACK Garden Annex, Bishop Road, 1st Ngong Avenue, 7th floor, Nairobi, open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, as shown on the regulator's contact page. If you cannot get there, call the toll-free line first and ask how to send the form.
Limits an operator must offer
Regulation 84 of L.N. 112 requires an online operator to give you tools that work in real time. Neither the Act nor the Regulations as gazetted set a maximum stake, deposit or loss, so the limit that counts is the one you set.
| Tool | What it lets you do |
|---|---|
| Deposit limit | Cap what goes in per day, per week and per month |
| Loss limit | Cap how much you can lose |
| Session limit | Cap how long you play at a time |
| Expenditure limit | Cap what you spend overall |
| Reality check | Pop-up notices that show how long you have been playing |
| Short self-exclusion | An easy option to step away for at least twenty-four hours, linked to the national self-exclusion register |
Two more rules protect your money. Section 72(7) of the Act forbids a licensee to help you bet by advancing credit or allowing credit cards, and section 74(1) forbids it to provide credit or to make an offer designed to make you gamble more, although section 74(3) still allows free bets and bonus bets in the ordinary course of business. The lowest stake an operator may accept online is KES 20 under section 71(1).
If someone close to you is betting
Self-exclusion under section 115(1) is a voluntary agreement made by the person who gambles, so it has to be their decision. What you can do is keep the toll-free number to hand, share this page, and keep shared money somewhere a betting wallet cannot reach. If the person betting is under eighteen, different rules apply, set out next.
Anyone under eighteen
Gambling is for adults of the age of majority, which in Kenya is eighteen. L.N. 112 regulation 92(1)(c) treats persons under eighteen as minors to be kept out of gambling and its promotion, and section 72(3) of the Act requires an operator to obtain proof of age of majority before it registers a player. Section 109 makes it an offence to bet with a child or to take bets through a child, with a fine of up to KES 1,000,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both. An operator taking a child's bets is a matter for the Authority, which receives and determines complaints from the public under section 10(m).
What this site can and cannot do
This is an information site. It cannot exclude you, close an account, recover a stake or offer counselling, and it carries no link that opens a betting account. It can show you the arithmetic and the rules, and point you to the people who can act: the operator's own customer care, the Authority on 0800-723-770, and the self-exclusion register. The contact page lists where each kind of question belongs.