Cavernicola

About Cavernicola

The dispute over the legal gambling age comes as the Gambling Authority steps up its warnings about illegal online betting.

Speaking at the 2026 South East Region Staff Excellence Awards in Gaborone, Kemorwale said unlicensed platforms were diverting an estimated P850m ($63.2 million) from Botswana’s economy each year and exposing children and teenagers to unregulated gambling.

He described the rapid growth of the illegal online market as one of the sector’s most serious challenges.

What is Cavernicola?

The report identifies land-based and online casinos and sports betting as carrying the highest money laundering exposure. By contrast, lotteries and scratchcards present lower risk. 

It finds that online gaming shows more documented terrorist financing activity than gambling, although proliferation financing risks remain limited across both sectors.

Cash, e-wallets, mobile money and virtual assets emerge as the payment methods most vulnerable to abuse. This is particularly true where operators use them to structure deposits below reporting thresholds. 

What is Cavernicola?

West Virginia, the only other state traditionally included in the Mid-Atlantic, does not issue monthly casino revenue reports.

There’s no singular culprit for the Mid-Atlantic’s August casino woes but several likely factors.

The first is the ongoing cannibalization of in-person gaming by online casinos. The Mid-Atlantic is home to four of the country’s eight legal iGaming states: Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.