According to Business Daily Africa, Betin Kenya is currently seeking a court order against Safaricom to unblock its M-Pesa paybill accounts and SMS short codes which were suspended by the telecommunications company, as a result of a government order.
The firm wants the court to order telecommunications giant; Safaricom, to lift the suspension on its payment systems and direct the company to unblock its M-Pesa paybill accounts as well as its SMS shortcodes.
On the 10th of July 2019, The Kenyan government had through the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB), ordered Safaricom to suspend the M-Pesa payment systems and SMS codes for 27 betting firms including SportPesa and Betin because their operating licences for the year starting on the 1st of July 2019 were not renewed.
Betin Kenya however, claims that the withdrawal of the operating licence was illegal, arguing that it had a court order stopping the withdrawal of its betting permit.
Betin Kenya in its court petition said, “The interested party (Safaricom) be directed to unblock the applicant’s pay bill account numbers 997270 and 244449, which it disabled on July 12,”.
It added in its court petition that, “The interested party be directed to refrain from giving effect to or acting on any directive by the respondent (BCLB) in relation to the applicants pay bill account numbers pending the hearing and determination of this application.”
High Court judge Weldon Korir has directed Safaricom and the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB), to respond to the application before acting on Betin Kenya application.
The freezing of the paybill accounts, prevented new deposits for bets, but however gave those who had money in them 48 hours to withdraw said cash.
These effectively crippled the betting firms which rely on the M-Pesa mobile cash platform for stakes and payment of winnings.
The suit will be heard this Friday.
Last week, Kenya deported 17 foreign directors of the betting firms including nationals of Bulgaria, Italy, Poland and Russia, following the licensing crisis.
