The National Lottery Board has set the ball rolling for the establishment of Kenya’s first National Lottery Operator whose proceeds will go towards uplifting communities across the country.
Speaking during a media briefing in Nairobi, National Lottery Board Chairperson Dr. Farida Karoney said a consortium led by RSM Eastern Africa in partnership with QLOT Consulting of Sweden had been appointed to guide the process.
She said that the consortium will work closely with the Board from transaction structuring through to operator onboarding and launch readiness adding that the appointment was a culmination of an open international tender conducted under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
Dr. Karoney said that the tendering process was evaluated using the Quality and Cost Based Selection methodology. “The consortium emerged as the highest-ranked and most responsive bidder,” she said.
“RSM Eastern Africa brings depth in transaction advisory and institutional strengthening across Kenya’s public sector,” said Dr. Karoney, adding: “QLOT Consulting, an Associate Member of the World Lottery Association, brings internationally benchmarked experience from the world’s most sophisticated lottery procurements.”
The assignment includes a structured knowledge-transfer programme, so that expertise is retained within the Board, she pointed out.
“The appointment of a credible, multidisciplinary Transaction Advisor is a defining step in building a National Lottery that Kenyans can trust. It is a statement of intent that our National Lottery will be structured transparently, governed responsibly, and built to international best practice, with every shilling raised channelled toward good causes that uplift communities across the country,” she affirmed.
The Board is established under the National Lottery Act, No. 20 of 2023 with a dedicated mandate: to establish, oversee and safeguard Kenya’s National Lottery, to procure and contract its Operator, and to administer the National Lottery Fund.
The licensing and regulation of gaming in Kenya more broadly rests with the Gambling Regulatory Authority established under the Gambling Control Act, No. 14 of 2025. The Operator will be licensed within that framework while remaining contractually accountable to the Board two mandates that are distinct and complementary.
At the centre of the National Lottery is not the games but what it funds. After prizes and the cost of running the lottery, proceeds are paid into the National Lottery Fund and dedicated by law to good causes: charitable and humanitarian work, economic empowerment for young people and women, sports, the arts and creative economy, national heritage, health and education, emergency response, and transformative national projects.
In practice, that means backing grassroots sporting talent, helping young people earn from their skills and their creativity, and investing in community projects countrywide. Funds will be disbursed from the National Lottery Fund in accordance with published rules, shared fairly across the country, audited independently, and reported openly.
Responsible gaming will be designed into the National Lottery rather than added to it, with age verification, play and spend controls, self-exclusion, disciplined advertising and clear disclosure of odds embedded in the Operator’s obligations.
The Board’s attention now turns to structuring a transparent, competitive process to attract a credible Operator. Timelines will be published in due course; the Board will not trade rigour for speed.
