SA’s gambling operators generated gross revenue of R75bn in the 2024/25 financial year in a country plagued by poverty and unemployment.
And this does not reflect the full extent of gambling activities, much of which takes place on illegal, online gambling platforms. Hopefuls also spent R1.96bn last year on lottery tickets, up from R1.83bn the previous year.
The National Gambling Board (NGB), which made a presentation Wednesday to parliament’s trade, industry & competition committee on its 2024/25 annual report, said recipients of social grants by the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) were also known to be using their meagre grants for gambling, probably desperately clinging to the flimsy hope of financial relief from their distress.
NGB acting CEO Lungile Dukwana noted that 60% (about R47bn) of the industry’s recorded gross gambling revenue was generated from (not illegal) online betting and bemoaned the proliferation of advertisements to promote it.
The fiscus collected R5.8bn in taxes and levies during the year, and the industry contributed 0.83% to GDP.
Regulation challenges
“Online access through mobile phones and computers has led to an increase in illegal, online gambling, posing challenges for regulation and enforcement,” Dukwana said. “There is no firm policy position that has been adopted at a national level for interactive gambling.
“The National Gambling Act of 2004 is no longer adequate or responsive to the changes in gambling caused by advances in technology. Consideration should be made to regulate interactive gambling.”
DA spokesperson on trade, industry & competition Toby Chance is proposing a private member’s bill, the Remote Gambling Bill, which aims to regulate and require the licensing of online and remote gambling. He points out that a lack of regulation results in revenue and jobs being lost to other jurisdictions.
Sun International CEO Ulrik Bengtsson warned last month that weak regulation of online gambling could rapidly erode the state’s tax base by driving punters to illegal offshore operators.
Trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau recently told parliament that the NGB had identified 90 illegal gambling websites, most licensed and registered overseas.
Crackdown on illegal gambling
Dukwana urged that illegal gambling be made a priority crime, liable to heavy fines and prison sentences. Registered cases did not end up in court.
He noted there had been an upsurge in online casinos offered by offshore operators, mainly by the Caribbean island Curacao, the regulator of which had not been willing to stop licensees from operating illegally in SA. The island is a leading gambling hub and global issuer of gaming licences.
The NGB has been working with provincial licensing authorities, the police, the Financial Intelligence Centre, banks and other network providers in a bid to deal with illegal online gambling.
It has approached the department of communications & digital technologies to block IP addresses and engaged with the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to block illegal gambling sites. The NGB is also working with the Reserve Bank over the control of illegal winnings.
The licensed gambling industry creates 33,160 direct jobs and 144,619 direct, indirect and induced jobs.
Betting overtakes casinos
In the 2024/25 financial year casinos generated 22% of gross gambling revenue, limited payout machines 6% and bingo 2%. The Western Cape and Mpumalanga were the two provinces that generated the most gross gambling revenue, at 31% and 30%, respectively, though punters may live in other provinces.
The NGB’s report revealed that betting grew 45.7% over the year due to its availability online, casino gambling declined by 4.1%, bingo fell by 8.6%, and LPMs by 0.04%. Betting has become the dominant form of gambling in SA, overtaking casinos.
The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) has been plagued by fraud and corruption, which is under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), but its financial management has improved significantly, and it received an unqualified audit opinion with findings. Last year 79 forensic investigation reports were finalised and 28 criminal cases registered with SAPS, and many more are in the pipeline.
The commission has an accumulated surplus of R4.3bn, underspending on its grants budget by R514m due to constraints on the capacity of its distributing agency and the rollout of a new online system, MPs were told in a presentation on the annual report. A total of R988m was distributed to good causes.
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