Gamblers' paradise as casino licence rollout begins
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday August 10, 2018 12:39
Currently the country has three casinos in Gaborone, two in Francistown and one each in Jwaneng and Selebi-Phikwe.
The authority’s CEO Thuli Johnson told BusinessWeek that preparations have been finalised for additional casino licences for players around the country.
“We will be announcing some time this month a programme for the licences,” he said. “We can’t provide the specific dates, but we are working on that and we have been preparing ourselves for the process.”
Last year, the Authority announced plans to issue six more casino licences countrywide, covering Gaborone, Maun and Kasane. At the time, the parastatal said exemptions would be given to Kasane, which is a major tourism hotspot.
Meanwhile, the Authority is still waiting on the outcome of a High Court process, to restart the process of identifying a contractor to run the proposed national lottery.
The Gambling Authority, established in 2012, is awaiting the outcome of arbitration in the matter in which it was dragged to court and interdicted from proceeding with the establishment of the national lottery by Infinitum Lottery Company.
Infinitum Lottery Company sued after the Gambling Authority refused to accept Infinitum’s additional documents to participate in the tender to establish the lottery.
Infinitum says it had already submitted the main documents before the tender closing time of 10am, October 26, 2017.
On Tuesday, Johnson told this publication that the issue had still not been resolved.
“The issue is still before an arbitration panel and we are hoping they can conclude that quickly which would then allow us to complete the process,” he said.
Meanwhile, in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, one lucky winner is still head over heels from the weekend win of R140 million, the highest the lottery in that country has ever reached.