Echo (Gaborone)
Bashi Letsididi
6 April 2006
Gaborone — Unless they put up a fight as good as that by liquor traders, casinos are likely to have their business hours drastically reduced by legislation that is currently being worked on.
Principal commercial officer in the ministry of trade and industry, John Matsheng said that in the still-being promulgated Gaming and Gambling Bill, there would be less hours for gambling at casinos.
"We still have the discretion to reduce the hours," said Matsheng who is a member of the Casino Control Board.
The Board has not exercised that discretion and what it plans to do is to start consulting with casino operators.
By limiting the hours that casinos can operate, the government hopes, at one level, to deal with the problem of compulsive gambling. Speaking at the third annual Gaming Regulators Africa Forum (GRAF) held in Gaborone last year, Lekwalo Mosienyane, the chairperson of the Board highlighted that the fact that Botswana casinos can operate round the clock was problematic.
"These and other factors have contributed to an increase in problem gambling in the country. The incidence or prevalence of problem gambling in Botswana has not yet been quantified but is however estimated at 1 percent of the gambling patronage," Mosienyane told delegates at the GRAF conference.
As Matsheng explained, no actual study has been carried out in Botswana to determine that problem gamblers constitute 1 percent of the patronage.
"Studies done in other jurisdictions generally show that compulsive gamblers constitute 1 percent of the gambling patronage," Matsheng said.
One of the areas that the Gaming and Gambling Act will cover is the establishment of a fund to cater for the treatment of problem gambling and to provide for each gambling facility to contribute to such a fund independent of the gaming levy. An advisory body on the management of problem gambling will also be established.
Amongst the measures that the government has tried to deal with problem gambling is imposing an entrance fee at casinos but, as even Matsheng admitted, this measure has not been effective. Despite the fact that fee is very minimal (P5), Matsheng noted that operators reward loyal punters with free admission. At the GRAF meeting, Mosienyane admitted that the ameliorative measures against problem gambling were not effective.
The promulgation of the new law comes after realisation that the Casino Act, which has been in use since 1971, is outdated. The Board has had to go to the High Court to seek the closure of an operation in Gaborone in which it contended that Racewood Investments was operating a casino under the pretext that is providing entertainment.
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