Sports betting operator SportPesa’s fight with Kenya’s government keeps getting uglier, as a cabinet minister ordered the deportation of foreign nationals connected to the firm. 

On Wednesday, officials representing multiple government agencies raided SportPesa’s offices in Nairobi. Initial reports indicated the officials, who were accompanied by police, were seeking documents related to the company’s recently relaunched online betting operations.

However, Kenyan media reported Thursday that the raid resulted in the arrests of an unspecified number of foreign nationals, believed to be primarily from Eastern Europe. The arrested individuals were among the 14 foreigners that Interior Minister Fred Matiangi (pictured) ordered deported Thursday for allegedly operating in Kenya without proper work permits and for their involvement in illegal gambling. 

SportPesa was founded by a number of Bulgarian nationals, including Guerassim Nikolov, who remains a major shareholder in SportPesa. Nikolov is believed to have been among the 17 foreign directors of betting companies who were deported in the summer of 2019 for a variety of cited justifications, including expired work permits, lack of any work permits whatsoever and evading local taxes.