Online gambling in Botswana: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Botswana?

The Gambling Act No. 7 of 2012, fully in force since 1 April 2016, created the Gambling Authority as the single regulator for casinos, gambling establishments, bookmakers, betting, totalisators, bingo, gambling machines and the National Lottery. Licences are issued in rounds through published requests for application, and the Authority requires new betting licensees to open brick-and-mortar premises before switching on online betting. Betway Botswana received a sportsbook licence in February 2025 and an online casino licence later that year, and the Authority issued ten further bookmaker licences in May 2025. Licensees pay a monthly levy on gambling revenue plus a responsible-gambling contribution cut from 5% to 3.5% of GGR in July 2024.

Regulated: Private operators can hold a local licence for online casino and/or betting.

Who regulates gambling in Botswana?

• Gambling Authority (GA) — Sole regulator under the Gambling Act 2012: licensing, levies, the National Lottery licence and distribution fund, responsible-gambling oversight and enforcement against unlicensed gambling

Botswana gambling licence: how it works

The Authority publishes a Request for Application (RFA) for each licence type and location, and the RFA sets the requirements, timelines and forms. Applicants must be at least 21, registered in Botswana, publish a notice inviting objections in a local newspaper and pass an inspector's suitability report; foreign applicants are expected to partner with citizens and present a corporate social responsibility plan. Betting licensees must open physical premises before offering online betting, and licensees have a set period, reported as 15 months, to commence operations. Suppliers, distributors and maintainers of gambling machines register separately with a P50,000 application fee. Fees for each licence are prescribed in Schedule 14 of the Gambling Regulations 2016 and in the RFA.

What an applicant needs

• Company registered in Botswana; applicants and directors aged 21 or over with tax clearance and solvency evidence
• Response to a published Request for Application, with newspaper notice for objections and an inspector's suitability report
• Citizen participation and a corporate social responsibility plan for foreign-led applicants
• Brick-and-mortar premises operating before online betting is activated
• Compliance with the Financial Intelligence Act 2022 and the national Responsible Gambling Strategy
• Gambling machines registered and linked to the Authority's central electronic monitoring system where applicable

Gambling taxes in Botswana

• Operators: A monthly levy on gambling revenue at the percentage prescribed by regulation, paid within ten days of month-end with an auditor's certificate (section 50 of the Act), plus a responsible-gambling contribution of 3.5% of gross gambling revenue (reduced from 5% in July 2024). Totalisators pay a daily levy on gross takings at a rate the Authority determines. Corporate income tax applies at the standard rate.
• Players: No withholding tax on gambling winnings was identified.
• Also: Levies are paid into a fund used for the benefit of the gambling industry (section 134). The Authority's CEO said in May 2025 that March 2025 alone generated more than P2 million for levies and responsible-gambling policies from licensed betting.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

Advertising licensed gambling is lawful, but every advertisement must carry a prescribed warning about addictive and compulsive gambling, must not target minors, must not be false or misleading, must not offer free or discounted gambling as an inducement, and may not be placed at or near schools, hospitals, sporting grounds, parks, shopping centers, cinemas or places of worship (section 106).

Responsible gaming

The Act treats anyone under 21 as a minor for gambling purposes and bars them from gambling areas and machines. Licensees may not extend credit for gambling, must keep a register of excluded persons and check it, display counselling directories and self-exclusion forms, and follow the national Responsible Gambling Strategy, which requires digital monitoring tools to detect early signs of problem gambling.

Identity and age verification

Gambling licensees are specified parties under the Financial Intelligence Act 2022 and report to the Financial Intelligence Agency; identity verification with the national identity card (Omang) or passport, record-keeping and suspicious-transaction reporting apply. Age checks must confirm players are 21 or over.

Payments

Orange Money, MyZaka and Smega mobile wallets, bank cards and EFT are the common rails; the Authority itself accepts fees only by EFT. Gambling debts lawfully incurred are enforceable in court. Crypto is not a recognized payment instrument for licensed operators.

Notable restrictions

• Operating a gambling establishment without a licence carries fines up to P180,000 or 15 years' imprisonment
• Online betting only after the licensee's physical premises are open
• No gambling by persons under 21; no credit for gambling
• Advertising must carry addiction warnings and stay away from schools, hospitals and places of worship
• Bets are lawful only on casino games, bingo, gambling machines and sporting events with the licensee authorized for that activity

Botswana iGaming market: size, players and payments

The Authority's CEO told SBC News in May 2025 that P150 million had been wagered with licensed betting operators by the end of March 2025, with P135 million returned to players and gross gaming yield of about P15 million in March. No annual GGR series is published.

The regulator describes a young, mobile-first population and high digital penetration as the drivers of sports betting growth; no participation survey is published.

Betting is mobile-led, with mobile money wallets from the three telecom operators as the main deposit channel.

Hotel casinos in Gaborone, Francistown and Kasane anchor the land-based sector; Betway Botswana, Sunbet Botswana and PstBet were among the first licensed betting brands, and the ten bookmaker licences issued in May 2025 brought several more operators to market.

Timeline: how Botswana got here

1. 2012Gambling Act No. 7 of 2012 enacted, replacing the Casino Act and the Lotteries and Betting Act
2. 2016-04Act fully commences on 1 April; Gambling Authority begins regulating under the Gambling Regulations 2016
3. 2024-07Ministry of Trade cuts the responsible-gambling contribution from 5% to 3.5% of GGR
4. 2025-02Betway Botswana receives a sportsbook licence and opens a first betting shop before launching online
5. 2025-05Gambling Authority issues ten new bookmaker licences, signs a cooperation MoU with the Lesotho Casino Board, and Betway adds an online casino licence
6. 2025Government begins revising the Gambling Act to cover online platforms, artificial intelligence and data protection

Outlook

Expect amendments to the Gambling Act that write online and remote gambling, data protection and new technologies into the statute, following the Authority's 2025 statements that a comprehensive online framework is being finalized. The National Lottery remains unlaunched after negotiations with the preferred applicant failed, so a new lottery process is likely. Enforcement against unlicensed online betting is expected to intensify as licensed operators complete their retail-first roll-outs, and further bookmaker licence rounds depend on how the 2025 licensees perform.

Launching in Botswana with GameBridge

Turnkey (your licence, our platform). Licences are awarded to Botswana-registered companies through the Authority's application rounds, so the operator holds the licence and runs on GameBridge technology; GameBridge holds no Botswana licence and cannot shorten the retail-first condition.

A Botswana brand on GameBridge runs in English with a BWP wallet and geo-controls that admit residents through the operator's licensed entity once its physical premises are open. Orange Money, MyZaka, Smega and card rails connect on request through the operator's local payment partners, the age gate is set to 21 to match the Act, and the excluded-persons check, deposit limits and self-exclusion tools follow the national Responsible Gambling Strategy. Sportsbook launches first; casino content is enabled only under an online casino licence, and every game version carries a certification package for the Authority's technical review.

• BWP wallet with Orange Money, MyZaka, Smega and card rails on request
• Age gate set to 21 with Omang or passport identity checks
• Excluded-persons register check at login and deposit
• Advertising and bonus rules configured to the Act's inducement limits
• Monthly revenue reporting for the levy and responsible-gambling contribution
• Certification package for every GameBridge Studios and Originals version

Football and crash games lead online play; the aggregated catalog brings {providersAvailable} game providers for licensed online casinos, and GameBridge Studios builds mobile-first exclusives sized for local data plans.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• Gambling Act, 2012 (Act No. 7 of 2012) — Gambling Authority, Botswana, accessed 2026-09-11
• About the Gambling Authority — Gambling Authority, Botswana, accessed 2026-09-11
• Licensing: how to apply — Gambling Authority, Botswana, accessed 2026-09-11
• Gambling Regulations, 2016 — Gambling Authority, Botswana, accessed 2026-09-11
• Botswana welcomes Betway as market keeps expanding — SBC News, accessed 2026-09-11
• Casino operators welcome reduced responsible gambling contributions — Botswana Daily News (BOPA), accessed 2026-09-11
• Gambling Authority's headache — The Patriot on Sunday, accessed 2026-09-11
• Gambling regulators from Botswana and Lesotho sign cooperation agreement — Gambling Talk, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.