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Ultimately, the gamble backfired.
Arbitrators found against the companies and ordered them to pay millions of dollars toward Laos’ legal costs and expenses.
One tribunal found in 2019 that Lao Holdings had acted in bad faith and ordered it to pay Laos $1.95 million. Another made a similar finding against Sanum and awarded the government $1.78 million.
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The age proposal was the bill’s most contentious provision. Opposition MPs argued during the committee stage that Botswana should retain the existing minimum age of 21, but the bill passed with Clause 2 intact. The clause would replace references in the Act to “the age of 21” with “the age of 18”.
Botswana’s parliament published the measure as the Gambling (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Bill No. 15 of 2026.
Botswana’s existing gambling framework sets the legal gambling age at 21. The amendment bill would align that threshold with the country’s general age of majority, which is 18.
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Vicki Scott, the DIA’s director of gambling, said the investigation had delivered significant results, while stressing that work to improve compliance and ensure communities received their share of gambling proceeds would continue.
“Most operators have worked constructively with us to address historical issues and improve their practices,” Scott said.
“While we’ve made substantial progress, our work is not finished. We’ll continue working with operators to recover funding for communities, improve compliance and maintain public confidence in the integrity of class 4 gambling.”