By Kenya’s National Lottery Board said on Thursday it has appointed a consortium of RSM Eastern Africa and Sweden’s QLOT Consulting as transaction advisor to guide the procurement of the country’s first National Lottery Operator.
The Board said the appointment followed an open international tender conducted under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, and evaluated using the Quality and Cost Based Selection methodology.
The consortium was ranked highest and rated the most responsive bidder, the Board said in a statement.
RSM Eastern Africa brings depth in transaction advisory and institutional strengthening across Kenya’s public sector, according to the Board. QLOT Consulting, an associate member of the World Lottery Association, contributes international benchmark experience from lottery procurements globally, it said.
The transaction advisor’s mandate includes a structured knowledge-transfer programme intended to keep expertise within the Board, the statement said.
“The appointment of a credible, multidisciplinary Transaction Advisor is a defining step in building a National Lottery that Kenyans can trust,” Dr. Farida Karoney, chairperson of the National Lottery Board, said in the statement.
“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.”
The National Lottery Board was established under the National Lottery Act, No. 20 of 2023, with a mandate to establish, oversee and safeguard Kenya’s National Lottery, and to procure, contract and administer its operator and the National Lottery Fund, according to the statement.
Broader regulation of gambling in Kenya rests with the Gambling Regulatory Authority, established under the Gambling Control Act, No. 14 of 2025, the Board said.
The eventual lottery operator will be licensed within that framework while remaining contractually accountable to the Board, with the two mandates described by the Board as distinct but complementary.
The Board said the National Lottery itself is not the games it will offer but the causes it funds. After prizes and the cost of running the lottery, proceeds are to be paid by law into the National Lottery Fund, which will direct money toward what the Board described as 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 other transformative national projects.
In practice, the Board said, that means backing grassroots sporting talent, helping young people earn from their skills and creativity, and investing in community projects across the country.
Funds will be disbursed from the National Lottery Fund in accordance with published rules, the Board said, adding that disbursements would be shared fairly across the country, audited independently and reported openly.
The Board said responsible gaming measures will be designed into the lottery from the outset, including age verification, play and spend controls, self-exclusion options, disciplined advertising and clear disclosure of odds, all to be embedded in the operator’s contractual obligations.
The Board said its focus now turns to structuring a transparent, competitive process to attract a credible operator. Timelines for that process will be published in due course, it said, adding that it would not trade rigour for speed.
Kenya has for years lacked a formally licensed national lottery of this kind, with gambling activity in the country instead concentrated in privately operated betting and gaming firms regulated separately from the new National Lottery framework.
The appointment of the transaction advisor marks one of the first concrete steps toward launching a state-backed National Lottery since the 2023 law creating the Board came into force.
The statement did not disclose the value of the transaction advisory contract or a timeline for selecting the eventual lottery operator.
RSM Eastern Africa is part of the RSM global network of audit, tax and consulting firms. QLOT Consulting, based in Sweden, describes itself as a specialist adviser to lottery and gaming procurements internationally and holds associate membership of the World Lottery Association, an international trade body for state and state-licensed lotteries.
