Botswana case: how local licences destroyed offshore demand in one year

Botswana’s Gambling Authority has published an official list of licensed betting operators, confirming a legal market of just six brands.

Five of those six launched within the last 18 months — a sign of a market still taking shape. Blask data reveals a trend rare for developing markets: onshore brands have already accumulated 99.4% of user demand, organically displacing the grey market without regulatory blocks, payment restrictions, or technical takedowns.

Betway turns Botswana into a one-brand market

Blask Index records a concentration without precedent in African iGaming: over the last 12 months, Betway accumulated 96.4% of all branded demand in Botswana. The decisive factor was timing — a launch in August 2021 gave the operator a multi-year head start over every competitor that followed. The remaining licensed brands, including BBets and BetXplosion, are both growing from a near-zero base.

Legal segment grew nearly fivefold as offshore halved

CEB data records a radical shift in Botswana’s market balance over just 11 months. In June 2025, onshore and offshore demand were close to parity; by May 2026, the legal segment had grown almost fivefold to $4.1M per month, while offshore CEB shrank to $423K.

The share of licensed operators in total projected revenue soared from 52% to 91%. That compression hit global operators hardest — Bet365’s Blask Index fell 90% year-on-year, with 1xBet and BetWinner each posting declines above 50%.

Onshore growth came before hard enforcement

Botswana stands apart from other developing iGaming markets. Traffic and money flowed to legal operators before any strict administrative sanctions, technical blocking, or acquiring restrictions were introduced. Local brands, led by the dominant Betway, won on marketing and product alone — demonstrating that a quality onshore offering can displace the offshore tail without regulatory coercion.