Kenyans who place bets on SportPesa made Sh. 380 billion between November 2013 and June 2019 with SportPesa bets.

This is according to the audited financial statements and management accounts of Pevans East Africa, the company that operated SportPesa for years before running into internal conflicts.

During the period under review, the most rewarding year for gamblers was 2018 when gamblers took home Sh. 129.6 billion from the Sh. 95 billion they won the previous year 2017.

That year, the gamblers used Sh. 149.73 billion to bet through SportPesa, up from the Sh. 111.51 billion they spent in 2017.

The statements show that the Sh. 380.5 winnings that gamblers took home were equivalent to 85 per cent of the Sh. 447.33 billion that the gamblers staked during the period.

The statements show that the majority of gamblers used their winnings to place new bets. They also show that Pevans and its shareholders took home net earnings of Sh. 13.24 billion.

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Gamblers used Sh. 1.27 billion to bet through SportPesa in the 14 months to December 2014 and received Sh. 977 million as payouts. In 2015, the bets increased to Sh. 15.8 billion while payouts increased to Sh. 12.34 billion.

In the six months to June 2019, gamblers used Sh. 86.39 billion to bet and got Sh. 75.78 billion in payouts.

According to court papers, SportPesa made a net profit of Sh. 12.9 billion for its owners in Kenya in its first five years of operation.

This was equivalent to Sh. 215 million net profit every month or Sh. 2.58 billion every month. Previously, a court report had put the figure at a shocking Sh. 149.7 billion every year with average daily bets worth Sh. 408 million in 2018 before its suspension by the government.

In the 2018 financial year, the firm had reportedly paid out Sh. 129.6 billion as winnings. This left it with Sh. 20.1 billion. Out of this, the firm is said to have generated net profit in excess of Sh. 10 billion.