Kenya’s gambling regulator is warning its licensees not to follow SportPesa’s lead, while SportPesa is warning a major shareholder to button his lip.

On Friday, Business Daily reported that Kenya’s Betting Control & Licensing Board (BCLB) had sent a letter to its licensees warning them that “compliance with all operating requirements and directives issued by the board from time to time is mandatory. Any deviation from the same will attract severe regulatory consequences.”

The BCLB said “some operators are ignoring important operating procedures and directives,” specifically citing unannounced changes in shareholding and directorship. The BCLB insisted that it had “an inherent obligation of conducting due diligence” on the individuals seeking licensing as well as variations in its licensees’ operations, particularly those involving brands, domains, mobile paybill numbers, etc.

The BCLB appears to have been responding to the ongoing controversy surrounding SportPesa’s efforts to restart its local operations after a major tax dispute with the Kenya Revenue Authority forced the company to exit the market in September 2019.