Divine Showdown

What is Divine Showdown?

Entain highlighted that 11 of 20 Premier League clubs currently hold sponsorship or advertising arrangements with gambling operators lacking a Gambling Commission license—up from government estimates of eight clubs during the 2025/26 season.

“The government made clear in February that it would bring in a ban and it should do so immediately,” said Entain CEO Stella David, noting that clubs entering new agreements had already been warned. “Inconvenience is not an excuse for inaction.”

Entain cited third-party analysis forecasting that bets placed by UK consumers with unlicensed operators could skyrocket from £17 billion ($22.8 billion) in 2025 to more than £33 billion ($44.2 billion) by 2028 if left unchecked.

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In January 2024, before locally licensed online operators were active, the Authority said it had recorded about 510,000 monthly cases of Botswanans participating in illegal online gambling.

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.

How to play Divine Showdown

SmartSoft has joined the African iGaming Alliance (AiA) as a Gold Supplier Member in a strategic partnership focused on its continued development of African gambling.

In an announcement on Tuesday, the parties said the agreement was “focused on supporting the continued development of sustainable, responsible and commercially viable regulated gambling markets across Africa”.

SmartSoft maintains an established and growing presence in Africa, having also co-hosted the iGB L!VE Africa Summit in July.