Gambling turnover in South Africa has grown from R1.1 trillion to R1.5 trillion in a year, according to the National Gambling Board (NGB).
The Citizen reports that a profit of R75 billion generated from the total gambling revenue, with R52.3 billion accounting for online betting, creating 13 983 jobs.
The NGB 2024/25 annual report shows an increase in betting since the Covid-19 pandemic while casinos experienced a decline in activity since the pandemic. Casinos only generated R16.6 billion of the total revenue in the 2024/25 fiscal year.
The casino revenue fell by approximately 4% compared to the previous fiscal year, coinciding with operational decline.
The NGB said: “There were 21 813 operational slots in the 2023-24 fiscal year. By the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year, the industry had lost 443 slots.”
The board continued to report that: “Operational tables declined from 910 to 890 tables. This decline may reflect a fall in consumer demand, with casino operators opting to reduce operational machines and tables.”
The NGB stated that online slots showed significant growth, indicating that an increasing amount of people prefer gambling online instead of physical slot machines.
While the online betting sector continues to show an increase growth of 44%.
The NGB further noted that an increase of gambling advertising without proper guidelines led to normalising gambling in society, fostering unhealthy gambling habits.
“Regulations, norms and standards governing gambling advertising are required to ensure that punters are protected from the negative social consequences of gambling and increased public education on the risks of gambling,” said the NGB.
The NGB added: “The key thing is to protect the young and the vulnerable by banning the use of persons who appear under 25 in gambling adverts and banning ‘youth-appealing’ imagery of characters.”
The NGB emphasised the need for increase of licencing conditions to require age-gating, record keeping, and placement checks. They called for non-compliance to result in fines or temporary suspension of advertising rights.
[image: https://unsplash.com/photos/someone-is-playing-a-mobile-slot-machine-game-eMifpRdFOQU ]