SOUTH AFRICA Law and Practice Contributed by: Wayne Lurie, Lurie Inc
2. Jurisdictional Overview 2.1 Online Gambling
In understanding the landscape around online gam- bling in South Africa, it is very important to under- stand the constitutional and regulatory framework described, but it is even more important to under- stand that all available online betting in South Africa falls under the sole category of a licence awarded to bookmakers, being a bookmaker’s licence. Not all provinces have effectively opened the way for online gambling via a bookmaker’s licence and, even then, some have inextricably linked the provision of such to a compulsory land-based betting outlet, meaning one needs to operate a terrestrial retail shop in order to have an online presence. The Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board and the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator, the respec- tive gambling regulators for the Western Cape and Mpumalanga provinces, have, over the past few years, become viewed as the vanguards in facilitat- ing online betting and gambling. The Western Cape is a particularly attractive province due to its “licence on demand” regime for bookmaker applicants and not requiring a terrestrial retail presence in order to operate an online betting site. The Northern Cape and Eastern Cape have seen some shifts by operators to the online space and are jurisdictions to watch in the coming years, with the Eastern Cape having gained some popularity for its relatively fast processing of on demand bookmaker licence applications opened during 2025. Currently and broadly dependent on the jurisdiction selected by potential entrants, the following activities are permitted online: • betting – a wide range of sports betting and betting on contingencies (see 3. Legislative Framework ); • casino-style games – approved as “contingencies”; • fantasy sports – approved as “contingencies”; • poker – two provinces have recently permitted this in terms of their statutory framework but specific consultation and guidance is recommended as generally the South African legislative regime is prohibitive insofar as peer-to-peer gambling is con- cerned and careful consideration of this must take place in conjunction with equally careful structur- ing;
The gambling sector in South Africa is prescribed in the constitution as the subject of concurrent compe- tency between the national government and the nine provinces. Conducting a lottery is a specific carve-out and is the subject of national legislation only and the adminis- tration by a national regulator, the National Lotter- ies Commission (NLC). Currently, there is only one national licensee appointed by the NLC. In this sense, when discussing “gambling” or “betting” in the local context, this generally is not thought of as including “lottery”. South Africa is a quasi-federal state that for most practical purposes functions as a unitary state in most matters of law, except in certain specific areas benefit- ting from constitutional carve-outs as mentioned pre- viously. Gambling is one of these sectors. Whilst the constitutional mandate is “concurrent competency”, the provinces enjoy practical autonomy in determining their respective approaches to gambling provided that such approaches remain within the broad parameters of the national legislation. Given the broad definitions of gambling both in the national and provincial context, the ageing nature of all applicable gambling statutes of nearly 30 years old, and the relative freedom of discretion that each provincial regulator has in administering the sector, approaches have varied somewhat in the various provinces insofar as “online betting” is concerned. Notwithstanding that provincial regulators may differ in the latitude offered to licensees and/or policies and approaches thereto, a de facto and time-honoured comity has developed between the provincial regu- lators – such that cross-border, or inter-province, transactions between bookmakers outside of any given province and punters within other provinces are afforded freedom in transacting with one another, provided that the gambling falls under the regulation of “one of” the provincial gambling regulators.
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