Kenya’s betting sector faced a major upheaval in late 2020 when Sportpesa, once the country’s most lucrative betting brand, lost operational control to Milestone Games.
The transfer encompassed two essential M-Pesa paybill numbers-955100 and 955700-that handled nearly all of Sportpesa’s betting transactions. According to the document, these were activated for Milestone on October 30, 2020, while a High Court preservation order had frozen Pevans’ assets, including those paybills, until December 5, 2020. The order, issued in August 2020, was in force during the alleged transfer.
Safaricom’s involvement was decisive. The dossier claims the company skipped standard regulatory procedures, activating Milestone’s paybills within a single day-a process that typically takes two weeks for other operators. In contrast, Bharti Airtel, which held Sportpesa’s related short codes, refused to transfer them to Milestone, citing legal requirements. This suggests Safaricom proceeded in a manner that contrasts with Bharti Airtel’s approach, which cited legal requirements.
The transfer also took place while Safaricom was involved in litigation against Sportpesa. Pevans had filed an appeal (Court of Appeal No. 471 of 2020) challenging the Betting Control and Licensing Board’s decision to suspend its license. Safaricom was named as a defendant in that case and had already submitted legal arguments, positioning it as both an adversary to Sportpesa’s interests and the entity enabling Milestone’s takeover.
Supporting materials include a letter and affidavit from Wilson Karungaru, Milestone’s sole director at the time. Karungaru stated he requested the paybill transfer on October 29, 2020, with activation confirmed the next day. Karungaru later resigned, citing inadequate oversight of the company’s operations.
The document argues that Safaricom had reason to know the individuals behind Milestone were the same people who ran Pevans. Ronald Karauri and Francis Kiarie, former directors of Pevans, were undisclosed majority owners of Milestone through a holding company, Selinium Limited. Additionally, Pevans’ company secretary, who had filed multiple lawsuits against Safaricom on behalf of Sportpesa-linked entities, served as Milestone’s legal officer. Given Safaricom’s history of legal disputes with Sportpesa-affiliated companies, the dossier argues that ignorance of the ownership overlap is not a plausible explanation.
Beyond the initial transfer, the dossier outlines a second phase of irregularities. Milestone operated and promoted itself as a licensed BCLB operator from 2021 to 2022 under License No. 000205. However, a BCLB letter to mobile network operators, dated July 31, 2022, confirmed that the license had actually been issued to Hardwick Limited, trading as Bollywood Casino. This means Safaricom continued to platform Milestone’s betting and jackpot services for an extended period while the company held no valid gaming license-something the dossier argues should have been visible through routine compliance checks.
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