{"id":16880,"date":"2026-01-26T05:37:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=16880"},"modified":"2026-04-19T09:41:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:41:25","slug":"botswana-gambling-authority-urges-vigilance-as-gambling-industry-expands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/botswana-gambling-authority-urges-vigilance-as-gambling-industry-expands","title":{"rendered":"Botswana Gambling Authority urges vigilance as gambling industry expands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>CEO <strong>Moruntshi <\/strong>Kemorwale has emphasised that responsible gambling must be a core regulatory objective, not a peripheral concern, as participation rates rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Botswana \u2014 The <strong>Botswana Gambling Authority<\/strong> has urged sustained regulatory vigilance as the country\u2019s gambling industry expands rapidly, cautioning that unregulated gambling poses growing social and economic risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The warning came from acting Chief Executive Officer <strong>Moruntshi Kemorwale <\/strong>during a press conference in <strong>Gaborone<\/strong>, where he described poorly controlled gambling as a \u201cslow-burn crisis\u201d that could erode social cohesion, mental health and economic stability if left unchecked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kemorwale emphasised that responsible gambling must be a core regulatory objective, not a peripheral concern, as participation rates rise and new gaming products proliferate. He highlighted existing challenges including increasing youth exposure to betting and heightened problem gambling risks, which the Authority is working to address through public education, research, treatment referrals and community partnership programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Botswana has seen dramatic industry growth in recent years, with gross gambling revenue projected to exceed P1bn (\u20ac68m) by <strong>March 2026<\/strong>, a fourfold increase compared with two years earlier, driven largely by online and mobile betting platforms and wider smartphone penetration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite growth within the regulated sphere, unlicensed gambling activity has surged, with recent research from the Gambling Authority and the <strong>University of Botswana <\/strong>showing the underground market now valued at <strong>about P500m <\/strong>(\u20ac34m) annually, roughly twice the size of the regulated betting sector. This unregulated market, which includes offshore and illegal platforms, is drawing large numbers of players and undermining consumer protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Authority also noted strides in addressing problem gambling, including a national <strong>Responsible Gambling Programme <\/strong>that has seen prevalence decline <strong>from 5 per cent in 2020<\/strong> to <strong>3.4 per cent in 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officials are also responding to research showing that a sizeable portion of adults engage in gambling, with vulnerable groups such as young adults disproportionately affected by excessive betting behaviours, particularly on illegal sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kemorwale reiterated the importance of dynamic, adaptive regulation in a fast-changing industry and underscored continued cooperation with international regulators, technology experts and law enforcement to safeguard the public interest.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/onlinecasino-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/botswana-gambling-authority-educates-influencers-on-safe-betting-practices'>Botswana Gambling Authority educates influencers on safe betting practices<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CEO Moruntshi Kemorwale has emphasised that responsible gambling must be a core regulatory objective, not a peripheral concern, as participation rates rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":12841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Botswana's Gambling Authority, led by acting CEO Moruntshi Kemorwale, warns of escalating social and economic risks from the rapidly expanding, yet increasingly unregulated, domestic gambling market. With GGR projected to exceed P1bn by March 2026, the Authority emphasizes responsible gambling as a core regulatory objective, addressing challenges like youth exposure and the P500m annual underground market through public education and adaptive regulation.","focusai_entities":"Moruntshi Kemorwale, Botswana Gambling Authority, University of Botswana","focusai_location":"Botswana, Gaborone","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.75), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulated Market Growth?","query":"What specific policy interventions or enforcement actions does the Botswana Gambling Authority plan to implement to channel the P500m currently in the unregulated market into the regulated sector, thereby enhancing GGR and consumer protection?"},{"label":"Responsible Gambling Impact?","query":"How will the Botswana Gambling Authority's intensified focus on responsible gambling, including public education and treatment referrals, impact operator licensing requirements and the development of new gaming products in the market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60019],"tags":[1593],"class_list":["post-16880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","tag-responsible-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16880"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16925,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16880\/revisions\/16925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}