Nairobi, July 18 -- Abroad-based online betting firms without operations in Kenya face fines of up to Sh50 million if they fail to block residents of the East African nation from gambling on their sites in new rules aimed at plugging potential revenue leaks.

The new regulations compel the betting firms to install geo-blocking systems to ensure that Kenyan residents cannot access their sites.

The Gaming Regulatory Authority of Kenya (GRAK) says that the requirement will apply to foreign-based betting firms that have no local operations but opt to hold a betting licence for the Kenyan market.

Geo-blocking relies on tools like Internet Protocol tracking and location data to identify where a user is connecting from. If the user is in a res...