The Premier League is here with us. This means different things to different people across the globe. For some, it means a chance to enjoy as they cheer their favourites while to others, this is purely business. Wondering how? Betting has been one of the benefits enjoyed by those who love to gamble. For the citizens of Kenya, this raises the question, is SportPesa back?
Download SPORTPESA APP old versions Android APK or update to SPORTPESA APP latest version. Review SPORTPESA APP release date, changelog and more.
UPDATE:
SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri has announced that the betting company is back in operation in Kenya. This is after acquisition by Milestone Games Limited. While you can start betting from 30th October 2020, note that there are a number of changes including a new paybill number. Read more about the SportPesa relaunch in Kenya.
Interior cabinet secretary Fred Matiang'i seems to be doing the seemingly impossible to fight corruption in Kenya. The gambling sector has been on the receiving end since July 2019 after 27 of them got suspended. As if that was not enough, the CS deported 17 gambling company's directors.
The majority were foreigners from Eastern Europe. Those foreigners were believed to be performing other forms of businesses that had not been postulated on their work licenses and permits. In the middle of this crackdown, SportPesa is one of the companies that have been largely affected to the point of suing the government for stalling the half a billion transaction that occurs daily. What next? Is SportPesa back? What are the court proceedings? Let's find out.
You can also try out your luck by checking out 1XBet, BetWay and BetWinner. It is true what they say: you can’t win without trying. Why not to try it out today? Now that you know all there is to know about betting, it should be easier for you to play and even win. Why don’t you start by looking for a bet that works for you? It is easy to apply, play, and win. All you need is your smartphone or laptop, and you are good to go.
On 10th July 2019, the government of Kenya gave out an order demanding the immediate withdrawal of betting codes that belonged to 27 gambling companies. Unfortunately, SportPesa was one of the 27 gambling companies that were affected by having their operating license cancelled. On 12th July 2019, the company's M-Pesa Pay Bill and SMS short codes were switched off. As a result, all gamblers have been deprived of the ability to access this SportPesa betting site because the SportPesa Pay Bill numbers were suspended by telcos.
READ ALSO: Best betting sites in Kenya 2019
According to the Kenyan government, these betting companies had failed to renew their licenses within the stipulated time. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is currently demanding that Safaricom should pay them a whopping Ksh.200 billion as withholding taxation in arrears from Betin Kenya, SportPesa and other gambling companies.
The company, on the other hand, claims that suspension of Pay Bill and SMS shortcodes are illegal since they have a court order to continue with the business. At the moment, this gambling company has sued the government demanding to be compensated for the period they have been out of business. SportPesa wants the actions taken by the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) to be reversed, terming them malicious because the company has a legal court order.
After the government refused to renew the operating license of SportPesa, rumours have been circulating that the gambling company is on the verge of closing down. However, SportPesa has come out strongly to reassure its people that they are not closing down and the reports making rounds are false. In a statement released by the gambling company, they stated 'we are optimistic that soon, the company will be back to full operation'. They told the fans that any update concerning the proceeding or any other information would be communicated via the company's official channels.
READ ALSO: List of all betting sites cleared by KRA
Following the suspension of some gambling sites including SportPesa, local footballers and football fans have been worried that the company might withdraw its support to the various sports entities in Kenya. Luckily, the CEO of the company Mr Ronald Karauri made it clear that the company had no intentions of suspending or terminating the sponsorship deals it has with several sports bodies. The financial benefits these sports entities enjoy from SportPesa betting company is worth several hundreds of millions.
SportPesa is the only company sponsoring Kenya's Top-Flight Football League dubbed SportPesa Premier League at an estimated cost of Ksh.150 million every year. The funds cater to the administrative cost such as running the competitions, facilitating and reimbursing referees and match commissioners. The company supports 18 teams, 18 coaches, close to 800 players under the age of 36 and 300 support staff.
Since the crackdown on SportPesa and other gambling companies, fans have been eagerly waiting for the restoration of the normal operation of the company. Although the company says that someone can still play and withdraw, as usual, this is a possibility only for the customers with money in their SportPesa accounts because you can no longer deposit more into the account. In this regard, SportPesa still holds the claim that discussion and court order proceedings are underway.
The fans seem to have gotten tired of hearing the same response every day. They took it to social media to express that there are not interested in the updates. Instead, they only want to hear that SportPesa is back in Kenya, and its site is back to regular operation.
Can you make official assurance notification to your loyal, perennial and esteemed customers that there is still hope for resuming to normalcy? , said Evans Chesunde.
You're taking so long to be back, major leagues just about to start, how long will we wait??? Do something please, requested Steve Mbappë.
So let's say after you arrive at 2019 on the day that your license was canceled, brief us on the partnership that you did bla bla bla...you will close down? Something is not right here SportPesa, tell us the bitter truth, we will accept and move on. you need not to keep our hope alive only to let us down, said Nzuki Lewis.
We are tired of these scrap men. The EPL is four days shy and you aren't giving us any hope. It's simple, give them kickbacks and let's move on. This is Kenya and we know what they want. Investors are suffering. The Landlords are on our necks, sponsors are taking away our girlfriends since we can't afford to treat them anymore. Kindly work on this before the weekend, said Eddy Walagah.
Now back to the elephant in the room, is SportPesa back to business? Unfortunately, the answer is currently NO. However, there are ongoing discussions with the company's stakeholders, the government, as well as the regulators. There is no specified time to resume, but the company promises to keep the fans updated.
When the solution to a particular problem is beyond what we can tackle, the only option is to wait patiently for the outcome. As much as we might keep asking is SportPesa back and show impatience and displeasure with the crackdown, there is nothing we can do but to wait for the involved parties to resolve their differences. To all the fans and other affected customers, let's chill and see what transpires as we hope for the best.
READ ALSO: Are you sure you know all online Kenyan betting sites with free bets?
Originally launched in Kenya back in 2014, the Sportpesa brand has rapidly expanded and set up operations in other parts of Africa and also in the UK where they have worked hard to get themselves on the very competitive UK gambling arena. Their growth and success is largely in part to their commitment to technology and penetration on the mobile betting market. They took a while to introduce the app but it was certainly worth the wait as we shall see in our review of the Sportpesa app
These are the steps to take in order to download the Sportpesa Mobile App
Android users can download the Sportpesa app from the Sportpesa website using the steps below:
iOS users can download the Sportpesa app from the Apple App store by following these steps:
The Sportpesa Mobile website is very well developed as it was the alternative before they developed the apps. It is accessible from all the different browsers. All you have to do is to type in the link in your browser. Virtually all the features from the website have been captured on their mobile website.
TIP: Upon downloading this mobile app, we recommend you to read our free betting tips to gain an insight on the best football tips
SportPesa is a global brand and therefore the app is available in most countries other than a number of blacklisted ones. At the moment Sportpesa operates and has offices in Tanzania, South Africa, Italy, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the UK but it has active plans to extend operations to other countries.
Approved African countries for app download: 🇰🇪 🇹🇿 🇿🇦 🇳🇬 🇬🇭 🇺🇬
Your device should have Android 4.1.1 or higher
Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Whenever there’s a new update, you will receive a message informing you about the new version. It is mandatory to update the app in order to keep using the SportPesa mobile application. New releases might include new fixes and new functionalities related to the application.
Unfortunately Sportpesa does not have much in terms of bonuses. At the moment neither a welcome bonus nore free bets are available… – we will inform you as soon as promotions are available!
You can get more promotions on Sportpesa as well as other betting sites by reading our betting bonus page
Here are other features that you can get from the app:
You can place bets on live events from the app in not just football but across other sports as well. To view the live betting feature on the mobile site, click the ‘Sportsbook’ tab then scroll to the ‘Live’ section.
This one allows you to select several options from the same game and combine them into a unique multiple bet
Cashouts are a common feature in most sportsbooks today. The app allows you to cash out on your bets by selecting on the bet history and choosing the bet(s) that have a cashout amount indicated.
Select the DEPOSIT FUNDS option on the app and choose from the payment methods available to you based on your country
Choose the WITHDRAW FUNDS option and select your preferred method for withdrawing, again based on your country
You can engage customer service directly using the app by logging in and tapping on the Live Chat service and sending in your questions. Clients can also go to the home button from where you can see all the contact methods available.
Our assessment of the Sportpesa app was quite interesting. It is clear that Sportpesa has invested quite a bit into their mobile betting infrastructure and we were pleased with the website outlook and the interactive interface of the mobile app. The website features are all catered for in this app and the arrangement of the menu is quite ideal and pleasing to the eye. We highly recommend the use of this mobile app as it will give you all the solutions in one place.
To get more details about Sportpesa and other betting sites, you can read our respective reviews! Just go to best betting sites in Africa