Botswana Raises Alarm Over P850 Million Illegal Betting Spend
An estimated P850 million is spent each year on illegal betting platforms outside Botswana’s regulatory framework, Gambling Authority CEO Moruntshi Kemorwale has revealed.
He shared the figure at the recent South East Region Staff Excellence Awards 2026 in Gaborone. He told educators and other stakeholders that illegal betting threatens Botswana’s economy and puts young people at risk. He also raised concern over unlicensed platforms that attract underage users and called for a collective response from everyone in the industry to curb illegal gambling and protect young people.
“Responsible gambling is everyone’s responsibility,” he said. “We must protect our young people, support licensed operators and stop illegal gambling from draining our economy. Together, we can build a safer and more responsible gambling environment for Botswana”
The appeal forms part of the Gambling Authority’s Motshameko O Phepa campaign, which is aimed at promoting responsible gambling and raising public awareness of gambling-related risks.
Concerns about unlicensed online gambling in Botswana are not new. In January 2024, the state-owned DailyNews reported that the Gambling Authority had recorded approximately 510,000 cases of Batswana who participated in illegal online gambling each month. Botswana had at the time, not issued local online gambling licences.
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The P850 million spent on illegal platforms now stands in contrast to the growth of Botswana’s regulated gambling market. The Gambling Authority issued 10 bookmaker licences in May 2025, and six of those operators had launched by the time of the announcement. Three had yet to begin operations, and one had withdrawn. The legal market had created more than 400 jobs through casinos and licensed bookmakers with the Authority estimating that casinos, betting shops and Limited Payout Machine operations could eventually support up to 2,300 jobs.
Revenue from regulated gambling also rose from P234 million to more than P700 million within two years. In January 2026, the Authority projected that the GGR would exceed P1 billion by the end of March, an increase Kemorwale attributed to the greater use of online and mobile betting platforms..
The Gambling Authority has also turned its attention to the systems that support its regulatory work. In a separate engagement, it hosted the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) for a benchmarking session on the ISO 9001 Quality Management System. The two regulators discussed process mapping and documentation, internal audits, corrective and preventive measures, management reviews and continual improvement.
