The digital revolution has ushered in a new and troubling trend in Botswana—underage gambling. According to a national study commissioned by the Gambling Authority, 20.3% of gamblers are minors, with many starting as young as 15. While traditional casinos enforce age restrictions, the explosion of online betting platforms, mobile apps, and social media-based gambling has created a largely unregulated space where youth can easily place bets using borrowed phones or their parents’ IDs.
Community leaders and educators interviewed during the study expressed deep concern about how children are being introduced to gambling by older siblings and even community members, who glamorize gambling wins as a form of prestige. The report warns that the conditions for widespread youth addiction are already in place. It calls for urgent action, including school-based gambling awareness education, stronger digital ID verification on betting platforms, and targeted public outreach to parents. Participants in the study described the current regulatory framework as insufficient, with most awareness efforts limited to posters in licensed casinos, leaving the growing online and informal gambling scenes largely unchecked.
The findings suggest that without swift intervention, the nation risks raising a generation increasingly vulnerable to gambling-related harm, fueled by technology and a lack of parental and institutional safeguards.
