Africa-Press – Botswana. The Gambling Authority (GA) has started receiving applications for digital, virtual, interactive and short message service (SMS) competitions, games and quizzes.
GA Chief Operating Officer, Ms Mopati Rammekwa told recently that before the Gambling Act commenced in 2016, there were SMS competitions that were conducted by Mobile Network Operators for charity.
Ms Rammekwa said these were regulated through the Notarissen Vetting Act that was repealed by the Gambling Act.
She explained that upon realising that demand to conduct such competitions was still prevalent locally yet not being provided for under the Act, GA had to explore ways of regulating them to facilitate interested operators.
She said GA drew up a policy which was approved by the board to facilitate all entities which had been running fundraising activities through SMS competitions.
Ms Rammekwa pointed out that a notice of regulation including eligibility requirements were shared with the general public for appreciation.
She said GA was satisfied with the local mobile network operators as they were obliged to meet Know Your Customer standards by Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority to avoid money laundering activities.
Ms Rammekwa said to participate, operators should fill out an application form uploaded on the GA website, provide a company registration certificate of incorporation, as well as the terms and conditions for the competition.
She said the conditions would determine the fairness of the game and how draws would be conducted to ensure there were minimal customer complaints.
Ms Rammekwa said the application fee was P1 000 including a service fee of 10 per cent of gross gaming revenue, which goes toward assisting GA conduct administrative functions of monitoring the competitions.
She encouraged the public to visit the GA website and learn about the organisation’s products and services.
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