Gambling Industry Grapples With Limited Technical Skills

The Gambling Authority is facing a significant challenge due to a shortage of technical skills, interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Moruntshi Kemorwale has revealed. Despite the authority's aggressive growth, it continues to rely on external skills or consultants, as locally, there are limited skills to conduct certain specialised tasks key to the proper regulation of the industry. "To add to that, is the fact that there is no single training college or university in Botswana offering gambling-related training, and such training institutions are limited internationally," said Kemorwale. He added that at the Gambling Authority, they learn as they go, learning from conferences, master classes, and symposiums. Kemorwale's worry is that the licensees are always a step ahead of the Gambling Authority in terms of technical expertise. However, he added that they continue to share learnings with fellow regulators, the licensees themselves, and other industry players. According to the interim CEO, some operators also employ foreign skills as a result of limited skills locally. He added that the authority is working around the clock to ensure that instead of exporting jobs, the gambling industry is empowered enough to be able to bring the jobs back to Botswana. "We want all these jobs to be brought to Botswana," he stated. GA Makes Significant Progress in 10 Years As the Authority celebrates its 10th anniversary in April this year, Kemorwale said the Authority has made significant progress since its establishment. He noted that they have put in place a robust licensing framework where none previously existed, developed licensing guidelines, such as for promotional competitions and SMS/virtual/digital games, rolled out a national Responsible Gambling Programme, that has reduced the prevalence of problem gambling from 5 percent in 2020 to 3.4 percent in 2025, and increased public awareness and leveraged partnerships to spread messages around gambling risks. "We have also improved data collection, as well as our reporting by adopting integrated reporting as espoused by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), and improved our stakeholder engagement across the sector," he expressed. At the same time, Kemorwale stated that the industry itself has grown substantially, both before the Authority's formation and more markedly thereafter. He said they have seen a steady increase in the number of licensed operators, a sharp rise in player participation, and significant growth in gross turnover across the betting and gaming segments. "We are confident that, by the end of the financial year, the industry would have reached a gross gambling revenue of P1 billion," he stated, adding that this is a significant rise, considering that the industry has been hovering around an annual revenue of P230 million. He added that this growth reflects broader global trends, increased digital access, and changing consumer behaviour. Compliance Pressures Further, Kemorwale said the Authority regulates an industry that has grown faster than many anticipated. He added that rapid growth brings opportunities, but it also brings challenges. "These include compliance pressures, technological complexity, enforcement demands, heightened public scrutiny, as well as threats to the personal lives of our employees, who are tasked with regulating an industry that is comprised of the white and black market," he revealed. In addition, the interim CEO stated that some, if not all, of their employees live in fear of being attacked by those they regulate, especially by illegal operators that they continue to make life difficult for. "We are, however, not dampened. We continue to respond by strengthening our regulatory framework, enhancing inspections and audits, and we will continue to invest in skills and systems, and intensifying enforcement, including cross-jurisdictional enforcement where necessary," he said. Levels of compliance across the industry are mixed. He said many operators are making genuine efforts to comply and engage constructively with the regulator. Others continue to struggle, particularly in areas such as systems integrity, record-keeping, consumer complaint resolution, advertising standards, and responsible gambling controls. Where non-compliance is identified, he said the Authority continues to act through corrective directives, sanctions, or enforcement actions as provided for in the law. "Above all, we want to be known as a facilitative regulator and not one that pulls a hand brake on the industry. We will continue to work in harmony with our licensees to ensure they become the best in the world, in terms of fairness, safety, and value add to government," he said.

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Gambling Industry Grapples With Limited Technical Skills

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