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South Africa has a booming online gambling market, but when it comes to online casino games, the legal position is far less straightforward than the growing number of websites offering them might suggest.
The distinction is important because online gambling is not a blanket legal/illegal activity in South Africa. Online betting with a properly licensed South African bookmaker is legal. The controversy centres on interactive gambling, which includes online casino-style games.
The National Gambling Board (NGB) currently takes the position that interactive gambling is prohibited under the National Gambling Act (NGA).
According to the NGB, Section 11 of the Act states that a person may not engage in or make available an interactive game unless it is authorised under the Act or another national law. The regulator consequently states on its website that interactive gambling is not legal, while online betting with a licensed South African bookmaker is.
What is an interactive game?
The terminology can be confusing. An online casino game is, by its very nature, interactive. A player connects to an online platform, selects a game, places a wager and receives an outcome electronically.
In South African gambling law, however, “interactive gambling” is a legal classification, rather than a suggestion that some casinos are interactive while others are not. This distinction is at the heart of the country’s ongoing debate over online casino gambling.
The NGB says interactive gambling remains prohibited until a legislative framework specifically regulating it is developed and enacted. In March 2026, the regulator reiterated this position while objecting to the authorisation of remote gambling technology by provincial licensing authorities.
But that is not the only interpretation of the law
ITWeb reported in March that several gambling lawyers disputed the NGB’s position, arguing that interactive online gambling can be lawful where an operator holds the appropriate provincial licence. The publication noted that provinces including the Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga have licensed online operators.
The result is an unusual situation in which the regulator and parts of the legal and gambling industries do not agree on precisely how the existing legislation applies to online gambling.
Online gambling is booming
Whatever the legal debate, there is little doubt that gambling has moved increasingly online.
South African Reserve Bank figures show that gambling turnover increased more than fourfold, from R358 billion in 2015 to about R1.5 trillion in 2024.
That figure needs some explanation, however.
The R1.5 trillion represents turnover, meaning the total amount wagered, including money won by players and subsequently wagered again. It is therefore not equivalent to the amount South Africans actually lost through gambling.
A better measure is gross gambling revenue (GGR), which is the amount wagered less winnings paid to players. GGR increased from R26.3 billion in 2015 to R74.5 billion in 2024.
The Reserve Bank says the increase in gambling accelerated after the COVID-19 pandemic, with more activity moving online.
ITWeb reported in April that online betting accounted for 85.5% of total betting revenue in 2024/25, compared with 80.7% in 2023/24.
That rapid growth helps explain why online gambling has become such an important issue for regulators, bookmakers, casinos and government.
The problem with offshore operators
South Africans do not have to look far to find online gambling platforms offering casino games.
Many are operated from outside the country and may hold licences in other jurisdictions. Those licences, however, do not necessarily give an operator the right to offer gambling services to South Africans.
The South African Bookmakers Association (SABA) has claimed that more than R50 billion in gross gambling revenue leaves South Africa through offshore operators every year. It also estimated that about 16 million South Africans had used illegal gambling platforms during the preceding year.
Those figures are industry estimates, rather than figures independently established by the government, and should therefore be treated as such.
The enforcement challenge is considerable.
The NGB has reportedly identified more than 100 illegal gambling websites, but operators can simply return under different domain names after a site is blocked or shut down.
The regulator has described the proliferation of unlicensed gambling websites and platforms targeting South African consumers as a growing concern.
This creates something of a cat-and-mouse game between regulators and operators.
Why aren’t they simply shut down?
Part of the difficulty is the nature of the internet.
An illegal gambling operation does not necessarily require a physical casino in South Africa. Its servers, ownership, payment infrastructure and management can be spread across different jurisdictions.
A website can also be moved to another domain relatively quickly.
ITWeb reported in July that some operators identified by the NGB had already been shut down and subsequently resurfaced under different URLs.
Authorities therefore face a problem that goes beyond simply identifying gambling websites. Enforcement can involve payment providers, domain names, technology suppliers, advertising, consumers and operators based outside South Africa.
Where does that leave online casino players?
For consumers, the NGB’s advice is relatively straightforward: check whether the operator is licensed in South Africa.
The regulator says licensed online gambling operators should display their licensing information on the homepage of their digital platform. It also directs consumers to provincial gambling boards to verify operators and report suspected illegal gambling.
The NGB also specifically warns that South Africans cannot simply rely on an overseas gambling licence when gambling from within the Republic.
That is particularly relevant to online casinos that advertise a licence from a foreign jurisdiction. A foreign licence may regulate the operator in the country or jurisdiction that issued it, but it does not automatically establish that the operator is authorised to offer gambling services in South Africa.
The underlying problem is not simply that South Africans are gambling online. It is that the country’s gambling legislation was developed around a very different technological environment.
The National Gambling Amendment Bill has been under development for years, with government continuing to consider amendments intended to address changes in the gambling industry.
For now, one thing is clear: online gambling and online casino gambling should not be treated as synonymous.
Online betting through a properly licensed South African bookmaker is legal. The legality of online casino-style gambling is considerably more complicated, with the NGB maintaining that interactive gambling is prohibited while some legal practitioners and industry participants dispute that interpretation where provincial licences are involved.
That leaves South Africa with a rapidly expanding online gambling market operating alongside a regulatory framework that is still struggling to settle exactly where the legal line should be drawn.
