Users of Kenya’s sports betting platform mCheza have been in panic for more than 17 hours following an outage on the servers hosting its USSD platform, making them unable to bet or get compensated for their successful bets.
As the players were waiting for the firm announce the Ksh 21m Jackpot winners, the firm announced, “Dear Esteemed Customer, Safaricom servers are currently unavailable and have made the content of this website inaccessible. mCHEZA and Safaricom teams are working on it. The Jackpot draw will be announced as soon as the servers resume normal service.”
However, most of the users didn’t believe the notice and thought mCheza is out to cheat them.
On Facebook, a user, Eurry Mabonga complained, “It’s really baad to be given some 300 for 10/13. I rather shift to Sportpesa n Betway who have better incentives. This outright robbery with violence.”
Other users added, “Irunch Wachira nipatieni namba ya julie gichuru. i want to talk to the boss directly.”
David Adawo, “Since the Lazio-Palermo game jana bado system imejam. Kwani mnataka kufuata chase bank??? Ni kubaya round hii, pesa zetu twazitaka enyi. I call ua office and some rude guy tells me he doesn’t knw wen the system will be back. #wewantourmoney.”
Mercy Cheboi Chepkoech,” The best thing is to shift to Sportpesa,best gambling site mmngekuwa bonuses zenu.”
Operated by Julie Gichuru’s Acumen Communications, mCheza promises its users that it’s ”robust, secure, trust-worthy and professionally managed gaming platform for sports betting” with a passion for nurturing local sports talent but people opposed to it say the Gichuru family is out to clean its suspiciously acquired money throughout the political regimes in Kenya.
If mCheza manages to pay its winners, it will still have the trust of the players and might grow to become one of the best platforms like SportPesa has become.
Apart from mCheza, Kenya has a new sport betting firm launching each month but the most popular include Sportpesa,Betway,EliteBetKenya,Bet Yetu and Eazi Bet among others.
Here is how you too can play mCheza;
Register to mCHEZA by sending the word CHEZA via SMS to our short code, 29888. Then top up your Gaming Account via Mpesa Paybill number 295525. Account name is MCHEZA. Your account is now ready to place a bet.
All matches have a unique three or four digit code called Game ID (e.g. 233 or 6233).
In betting language, “1” means Home win, “X” means draw, and “2” means Away from Home win or Away win.
To place a simple bet,
SMS the Game ID, the betting selection & the amount you wish to bet to 29888 in the following
format. e.g.
“233#X#100” or “6233#1#100”
– Where “233” or “6233” is the Game ID, “X” or “1” is the prediction and “100” is the bet amount.
To place a Multibet
SMS the Game ID’s and the betting selections separated by # before putting the amount, to 29888
Example : 4468#X#3256#1#7879#1#100
When you place a bet via SMS, you will receive a confirmation message informing you of your placed bet from Mcheza. The confirmation SMS for his/her bet will be the following:
Your Bet has been placed successfully. The BET ID is XXXXXXX. Your possible winnings are Kshs XXXXXX and your current balance is now XXXX Kes. www.mcheza.co.ke
Please quote your phone number and BET ID when engaging with our Customer care team.
How to check Balance.
To check the balance on your mCHEZA account, please SMS the word “Balance” to 29888
How to Withdraw
To withdraw money from your mCHEZA account, please SMS the phrase Cashout#amount to 29888
Example: Cashout#250
You will receive an SMS from mCHEZA as follows:
Ahsante sana, your mCHEZA withdrawal is successful, your balance is now XXXXX Kes. www.mcheza.co.ke
You will then receive a notification from Mpesa
Cancel a bet:
In case the players wants to cancel a bet then he has to send the word “Cancel” followed by “#” and the bet id received in the bet confirmation message to 29888. The cancelation procedure has to take place within a time period of 10 minutes after the acceptance of the bet and before the kick off of the matches that are included in player’s selections.