The Wildwood Curse

About The Wildwood Curse

Sunbet Botswana launched its online sports-betting platform in February 2025 and reported a 4,700% increase in sign-ups during its first month. As this was an operator-reported figure, the company did not publicly disclose the comparison baseline or absolute number of registrations.

The Authority said licensed operators accepted P150 million in wagers in March 2025, paid P135 million in winnings and generated P15 million in gross gambling revenue. It also estimated that only about 40% of Botswana’s estimated 550,000 active bettors were using licensed local operators, leaving a substantial share of demand with unregulated platforms.

By December 2025, Kemorwale said gambling revenue had exceeded P700m, and the Authority expected the industry to surpass P1 billion by the end of the 2026/27 financial year in March 2027.

What is The Wildwood Curse?

This week, Spectrum Gaming released its Evolution-commissioned report, and Playtech has highlighted a number of claims from Black Cube’s investigation that have been corroborated in the report.

When asked his view on what will happen next, Weizer declined to comment, saying: “It’s very interesting. But as I’m sure you can understand, we are not going to answer any questions on litigation.

“We are under legal privilege and confidentiality rules, and we can’t simply take questions on the legal situation. We said what we needed to say following the Spectrum report being released earlier this week. So, that’s all I can say at this point in time.

What is The Wildwood Curse?

But Sun International views that as an opportunity, with Bengtsson stating: “We think the market overall is probably somewhere around 35%-40% sportsbook.

“So that is the delta we have to close by delivering a better product and better operational intensity in our sports business.”

Bengtsson said momentum from the summer’s World Cup had continued into the second half of the year.