Casinos, Online Casinos, and Slot Machine Halls in South Africa

Gambling in South Africa, which includes casinos and slot machine halls, is regulated at the national level.

Being the most developed nation on the African continent, its gambling industry is quite gargantuan and hugely complex, with regulations all over. Under the apartheid regime, casinos were prohibited, except having ones in so-called "Bantustans." Statistics indicate in excess of 2,000 illegal gambling places existed in the Republic in the apartheid era, and the government chose to ignore their existence-lightly. After the establishment of democracy, gambling was legalized. If you are into sports betting, there is a helpful review of live betting sites in the country, which will help you find various alternatives.

Legislation and Regulators

South Africa adopted its first gambling law at a time when there were many opportunities for exploitation. This was later replaced by a legislative act with amendments. A legislative act that established an official body to regulate the industry – the National Gambling Board (NGB) (ngb.org.za) – with powers subsequently confirmed by the legislation. As a result of the NGB's work, the gambling industry was effectively regulated with continuous oversight. Also, the nine provinces each have their own local gambling regulators.

According to the law, entrance to casinos and other gambling places is allowed for people over 18 years. There are high penalties and prison time imposed, but illegal gambling houses still exist in the country, and the authorities take measures to fight them.

Land-based Casinos in South Africa

According to the website of the national gambling regulator ngb.org.za, South Africa had a total of 38 casinos (with only 40 licenses allowed under national legislation). Casino revenues amounted to 18 billion rand (about 1.3 billion USD). This casino industry is the largest and most significant segment within South Africa's gambling sector. It is largely accepted that establishments within this country are built to international standards. The industry comprises 6 managing companies, namely Sun International, Tsogo Sun Holdings/Hosken Consolidated Investments, Peermont Global, London Clubs International, Northern Cape Casino Consultants, and Niveus Investments. The number of gaming tables stands at 889, while the number of slot machines is 24,070.

Slot Machines in South Africa

Under the National Gambling Act, apart from land-based casinos, slot machine halls operate with a system of limited payout, thus limiting stakes and prizes. The slot machine operations are monitored by the National Central Electronic Monitoring System. Each province has several operators who license local slot machine operators. The country has 10,934 slot machines operated by 2,072 operators.

Online Casinos in South Africa

The National Gambling Act states that the offering of "interactive gambling services" and participation in any such games online is prohibited. This applies to all online operators licensed in any jurisdiction. Interactive gambling, in the context of South Africa, refers to casinos, poker, and bingo. The only online gambling activities that are permitted and licensed for South African citizens are betting on sports and horses. Amendments made to the legislation banned online gambling when offered from servers stationed outside of South Africa. Criminal and civil penalties were established for the creation of casino websites and the processing of payments for online players (for banks), which carried fines of up to 10 million rand or 10 years of imprisonment, or both, as well as for advertising such establishments. As it stands, any person with a South African IP address is currently banned from playing online games.

The Republic of South Africa, or simply South Africa, is a southern African country with more than 55 million people and quite a big land mass:

  1. 1. Population: about 80% Black, 8% White, about 9% mixed-race, and about 3% Asian.
  2. 2. Major cities: Cape Town (the capital), Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban, Gqeberha, Soweto.
  3. 3. Religion: 77% Christians, 15% atheists, 1% Muslims.
  4. 4. The country is divided into 9 provinces, each with local government but subject to national legislation.
  5. 5. Besides English, 10 other languages are official. Each of these languages has its own name for the country, such as Afrikaans, Sesotho, Tswana, and others.
  6. 6. Some of the Black population refer to the country as Azania. Among Black youth, the banned language "Tsotsitaal" (translated as "thieves' language," also called creole or Iscamtho) is very popular.
  7. 7. The official currency is the South African rand. As of September, 1 rand = 0.6 USD = 0.5 EUR.
  8. 8. The country has a high unemployment rate (40% of the population) and high crime rates.
  9. 9. Africa, including South Africa, has the youngest population in the world. The combination of a young population and a high unemployment rate leads many young people to view sports betting as a way to earn money and engage in it regularly.