Legislation

Botswana – New Botswana gaming laws coming into effect in April

By Phil - 24 February 2016

New gaming legislation kicks into effect in Botswana at the start of April meaning the nation’s 10 land-based casinos will be governed by a new regulatory body, the Botswana Gambling Authority, led by CEO Thuli Johnson.

The Authority will oversee the development of a central monitoring system, linking all gambling machines although operators must also install their own monitoring systems.

The new laws will better regulate all land-based and virtual, online and mobile betting in Botswana, including casinos, bookmakers, bingo, lotteries and racing.

Casino operators will be subjected to a P250, 000 licence fee while sports betting operators will have to pay P50, 000 with bingo and lottery groups paying P10, 000 and P1m respectively.

Mr. Johnson said: “All the new requirements are meant to curb illegal gambling and protect the licensed operators who do not only pay tax but also have jobs to protect. All kinds of betting will now need to be licensed. We will be placing adverts soon for interested companies to apply for licences. We will take over regulation of the existing casinos in April and anyone wishing to be involved in any other kind of betting, including SMS and online, will need to be registered and licensed with the Gambling Authority first.”