The Namibia Development Foundation (Namdef) Trust will host a two-day national conversation on responsible gambling in Windhoek next week. The event comes amid growing concerns about gambling addiction and the broader social impact of betting in Namibia. The Responsible Gambling Conversation is scheduled for 8–9 June.
Namdef responsible gambling programme officer Timotheus Angala said the forum will bring together regulators, operators, psychologists, researchers, civil society groups, and affected communities to hold structured, solution-focused dialogue. Angala said the discussions aim to promote inclusive dialogue on responsible gambling in Namibia, strengthen prevention and early intervention measures, address workplace productivity risks linked to gambling-related stress and debt, improve access to counselling and rehabilitation services.
The foundation also hopes the conversations will produce policy recommendations to guide future planning and social protection strategies. Namdef says gambling addiction has become an increasing social problem, particularly for young people facing unemployment and financial hardship. “With youth unemployment remaining high, psychologists and community leaders warn that many young Namibians, including a rising number of men, are turning to betting as an ‘income supplement’,” Angala said.
The foundation is also concerned that gambling is increasingly taking place in informal settings such as shebeens, bars, and online platforms, where consumer protection mechanisms are limited or absent. The upcoming forum follows public appeals by gambling addicts seeking stronger intervention measures.
Earlier this year, Jason Kauhondamwa (37) pleaded publicly for gambling houses to ban him from entering their premises after what he described as delays by the Namibia Gaming and Entertainment Control Board in processing his self-exclusion request. Kauhondamwa told The Namibian that his addiction began during childhood after he became fascinated by jackpot winnings, he saw at a bar. He later said it escalated into compulsive gambling, resulting in an estimated loss of about N$500,000 over the years.
“Anytime I have money, I visit,” he said at the time. He criticized the gaming board for allegedly failing to act quickly on his request to be registered as a restricted gambler. In response, the Namibia Gaming and Entertainment Control Board’s acting chief executive John Erastus said the board had considered Kauhondamwa’s application and was in the process of communicating the registration to licensed gambling establishments.
Erastus said the development of an interactive register linking licensed establishments was taking longer than expected. Namdef said it will implement its safe gambling programme as an independent, non-profit social safeguard initiative. The programme is intended to support responsible gambling obligations without taking on a regulatory or enforcement role.
