Ronald Karauri's SportPesa paid $14.7 million for football rights. He's now suing 20 companies for using it wrong

Ronald Karauri paid KSh 1.9 billion ($14.7 million) for the right to put SportPesa's name on Kenya's premier football league. He is now in court trying to stop 20 companies from using the league's data without using that name.

Milestone Games Limited, the Nairobi-based company that owns the SportPesa brand and operates under Karauri's leadership, has filed suit at the Commercial and Admiralty Division of the High Court in Nairobi against 20 defendants it accuses of breaching the exclusivity of its naming rights agreement with the Football Kenya Federation. The defendants include some of the world's most-used football data and streaming platforms, among them Sofascore, Livescore, FotMob, Forza Football, Onefootball, ESPN, Betway and Scorebat, as well as 365Scores, AiScore, BeSoccer, AzScore, Footystats, Soccerway, Livesport, SAS Skores Media and Livescore Group, alongside Football Media Limited, Sportlink Limited and TNT Sports.

The case centers on a straightforward commercial grievance. In July 2025, Milestone Games signed a 10-year naming rights and title sponsorship deal with FKF valued at KSh 1.9 billion ($14.7 million), making the competition the SportPesa Premier League for the duration of the partnership. Milestone argues that its exclusive rights include the right to have the league identified by its sponsor name across all media, data platforms and digital services operating within Kenya. The 20 defendants, Milestone says, continue to publish live scores, league tables, match statistics and player data under the league's generic name or other unauthorised designations, not as the SportPesa Premier League.

Milestone operations director Bernard Churo told the court that the company's revenue model is directly tied to brand recognition. Revenue flows from digital advertising, affiliate marketing, betting partnerships and the licensing of sports data APIs connected to FKF league live scores. When platforms stream that same data under a different league name, they are monetising an asset Milestone paid to brand, while simultaneously denying Milestone the commercial benefit its KSh 1.9 billion was intended to secure.

Lawyer Willis Otieno, representing Milestone, told the court that the defendants were making substantial profits through the mischaracterization of the league, to the detriment of Milestone, by undermining the correct name on their online platforms accessible within Kenya. He added that most of the defendants operate from offshore jurisdictions, making conventional enforcement difficult without court intervention.

The defendants in the suit are a cross-section of the global football data ecosystem. Sofascore, operated by Croatian firm Sofa IT d.o.o., is among the world's most downloaded football apps and is one of the sources cited in the official FKF league tables. ESPN, operated in Kenya by Walt Disney Company Limited, is a major broadcaster and live scores provider. Betway, operated locally by Red Interactive Limited, is one of Kenya's largest licensed betting firms. Livescore Group operates both the Livescore and Livescore.com platforms globally.

Milestone is asking the court for injunctive relief to stop the defendants from publishing league data under unauthorized names, an order for damages to be assessed, and costs. No date for the substantive hearing has been publicly confirmed.

The case arrives at a tense moment in Kenyan football governance. SportPesa issued a separate public statement in April 2026 calling for fairness and transparency in the governance of the FKF, raising concerns about the federation's management under president Hussein Mohamed without specifying particular grievances. Karauri, who is also a member of the Kenyan National Assembly representing Ruaraka constituency, has maintained that SportPesa's commitment to Kenyan football remains firm regardless of governance concerns at the federation.