South Africa’s National Gambling Board (NGB) has warned that players are using social grants to take part in gambling.
Acting Chief Executive Officer Lungile Dukwana said that there is a growing prevalence of money given to National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) recipients being used to gamble while speaking to Sunday World.
Dukwana listed these two cohorts alongside minors and students as vulnerable groups that are being exposed to gambling through the growing levels of advertising that are ‘normalising’ the activity.
In particular, the rise of online gambling across South Africa and the wider African continent has allowed the industry to reach a new type of player compared to land-based gambling.
He said: “The gambling landscape in South Africa, across Africa and globally, continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Technological advancements are reshaping the industry, with gambling increasingly shifting from traditional land-based venues to digital platforms.
“Gambling is no longer confined to a particular place or time. It is available in the palm of one’s hand twenty-four hours a day.”
Dukwana was speaking to the media following the unveiling of Sun International’s responsible gambling charter, which included a provision that players will be blocked from creating an account if they indicate they will use NSFAS or SASSA for funding.
Other tenets of the charter, which will be implemented across Sun International’s 11 casino venues and online gaming platforms, are restrictions on time-dependent broadcast and display advertising between 6am and 8am and 12pm and 6pm, dedicating 10% of advertising space to responsible gambling and the development of AI-led monitoring for risky player behaviour by 2027.
Sun International CEO Ulrik Bengtsson said that the charter has been published as part of a push to start a ‘serious discussion about responsible regulation’ as South Africa considers changes.
In particular, the country’s National Treasury released a discussion paper in November 2025 proposing a 20% national tax on gross gaming revenue from online betting and gaming to sit alongside current provincial taxes.
Bengtsson warned: “Rules or taxes that make licensed operators less competitive than offshore sites will push players towards platforms where they have no protection.”
Just $5bn of gross gaming revenue from Africa’s $25bn online gaming market is generated by regulated operators, according to data from Gaming Compliance International (GLI), with the remaining $17bn being generated by the black market.
Dukwana said that South Africa must work towards a greater localisation of its gambling activity to counter the reach of the black market.
“One of the greatest challenges facing regulators today is the fragmented nature of regulation across the African continent. Offshore operators can reach consumers through websites, mobile applications and international payment systems, often beyond the effective reach of individual national regulators,” he added.
“My view is that we should work towards total channelisation within the regulated local market. Every gap left for unregulated offshore operators becomes increasingly difficult to close.”
