In just four years, the ownership of Milestone Games Ltd, the holding company that operates the SportPesa brand in Kenya, has shifted from being dominated by a handful of Kenyan tycoons to being led by a UAE-registered company.

The dramatic ownership changes have also seen little-known Commtech Consortium Ltd acquire a 25 percent stake in Milestone Games while quietly exiting ownership of another company providing the digital platform for Kenya’s Social Health Authority (SHA) under a Sh104.8 billion deal.

Business Registration Service (BRS) records show that Commtech Consortium now owns 2,500 shares in Milestone Games, the operator of one of Africa’s best-known betting platforms, SportPesa. The share acquisition has made Commtech Consortium the second-largest shareholder in Milestone Games, behind another new investor, UAE-registered Techglow Ltd.

Techglow now owns 54 percent of Milestone Games following share transfers that significantly diluted the ownership of businessman Robert Macharia and Ronald Karauri. Their stakes have fallen from 71 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively, to much smaller holdings. Regulatory filings now place Mr Macharia’s direct stake at 0.75 percent and Mr Karauri’s at 3.0 percent.

The ownership shifts at Milestone Games have emerged amid a boom in Kenya’s betting industry, with gamblers placing a record Sh330.5 billion in bets in the year to June after the government eased punitive taxes on the sector. At Sh330.5 billion, betting turnover surpassed the Sh145 billion that retail, foreign, and high-net-worth investors spent on purchasing shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, which delivered a 34 percent return.

The figures underline the substantial returns available to owners of betting firms. Under UAE law, company shareholding and directorship records are not public documents, making it difficult to establish the beneficial ownership of companies registered in the emirates. Techglow is registered in Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE.

Located on the UAE’s northern coast, Ras Al Khaimah lies approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Dubai. Publicly available online records provide no information about Techglow beyond its registration in Ras Al Khaimah. The company also has no known website or social media presence.

In a separate round of ownership changes, Commtech Consortium is no longer listed in the ownership structure of the company that built and leased the digital platform to the SHA. A consortium comprising Safaricom PLC, UAE-registered Apeiro Ltd, and Konvergenz Network Solutions is developing and leasing a system that integrates Kenya’s public health ecosystem to the Ministry of Health under a Sh104 billion, 10-year contract.

Commtech Consortium previously owned a 22.5 percent stake in Konvergenz Network Solutions when the consortium was formed. BRS filings now show that the 22.5 percent stake has been transferred to UAE-registered Starway Trading Ltd. It remains unclear whether the transfer resulted from a share sale to the UAE firm or whether Starway Trading serves as an offshore vehicle owned by Commtech Consortium’s shareholders.

Business Daily was unable to obtain a comment from Commtech Consortium, as calls to the contact numbers listed with the BRS went unanswered. Emails sent to Konvergenz Network Solutions regarding the ownership changes had also not received a response by the time of publication. Commtech Consortium was incorporated on March 23, 2023.

According to BRS records, Dadson Wahagi Mugo owns 80 percent of the company, while Elvis Charo Kitsao holds the remaining 20 percent. Milestone Games has two shareholders: Commtech Consortium, which owns 25 percent, and Nob Five Ltd, which holds the remaining 75 percent stake. Benard Chauro Matoke is listed as the sole director of Milestone Games but does not own any shares in the company.

A breakdown of Nob Five’s ownership reveals seven shareholders, including Techglow, Mr Macharia, Mr Karauri, and James Ngengi Muigai, a relative of former President Uhuru Kenyatta. White Hart Ltd, owned by businessman Tom Waireri Thuo, a major shareholder in Nob Five, is the third-largest owner of Milestone Games with an 11.6 percent stake.

SportPesa exited the Kenyan market in 2019 following a tax dispute that also led to the suspension of its operating licence. At the time, ownership of the brand was largely consolidated under a different holding company, Pevans East Africa. In November 2019, SportPesa halted operations after a sharp increase in taxes on betting stakes and a multi-billion-shilling tax demand from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

Pevans East Africa, the original owner of the SportPesa trademark, later transferred the brand to UK-based SportPesa Global Holding Limited (SGHL). Milestone Games was subsequently granted the rights to use the SportPesa trademark in Kenya by SportPesa Global through a series of transactions that later sparked shareholder disputes within Pevans East Africa.

Data from the KRA revealed continued growth in online gambling, with the tax authority collecting Sh16.5 billion in excise taxes from the industry, exceeding its target by 15.9 percent. The increase came after Kenya reduced excise duty on betting to 5.0 percent from 15 percent, providing relief to gamblers.

The lower excise rate likely encouraged greater betting activity, although the tax authority rejected claims that the reduction was intended to promote gambling, instead attributing higher collections to improved tax administration.

As online gambling continues to expand across Africa, governments have responded by increasing taxes to address addiction concerns while also boosting public revenues. Kenya, however, reversed the trend by reducing betting taxes for the financial year beginning in July 2024.

Betting firms across the continent have strongly opposed higher taxes, arguing that increased levies would not reduce problem gambling but would instead drive bettors toward unregulated underground platforms. Once considered a niche activity, gambling has expanded rapidly across Africa, driven largely by the widespread availability of online betting accounts.

The industry’s growing scale reinforces Kenya’s position as Africa’s leading betting market. A GeoPoll survey published last month found that 64 percent of Kenyan respondents had placed at least one football bet during the previous 12 months. Kenyans recorded the highest level of sports betting participation among the surveyed African countries, ahead of Ghanaians and South Africans, whose engagement levels stood at 60 percent and 58 percent, respectively.