SOUTH AFRICA Law and Practice Contributed by: Wayne Lurie, Lurie Inc
2005 with the publication of a comprehensive report. In 2008, a draft amendment to the national legisla- tion, not featuring many of the committee’s recom- mendations, was promulgated. The 2008 amendment was contingent on the further promulgation of regula- tions. To date, there are no such regulations, and the amendment is effectively redundant, leaving no effec- tive national legislation on the topic of online gambling other than a general one-line ban on “interactive gam- bling”, which is inapplicable to the provincial licensing regimes surrounding bookmaker licences and online betting that to all intents and purposes facilitate online or interactive gambling with national reach across pro- vincial borders. This dichotomy causes major confusion at every turn, even with local banks and media partners in South Africa that are aware of the national “ban” but do not fully comprehend the differences in the provincial approach and the legitimacy thereof in terms of the constitutional imperative granting concurrent compe- tency to national and provincial governments respec- tively. This leads to challenges in areas like market- ing and payment processing. Based on this apparent contradiction the, albeit lucrative, South African gam- bling market is a veritable minefield to navigate for potential entrants without the proper guidance and advice, especially in view of the exceptionally con- fusing misstatements by the NGB in the latter part of 2025 surrounding the Portapa judgment (see 1.1 Current Outlook and Recent Changes ). Each of the nine provinces have their own gambling statutes that all essentially hark back to the 1995 legalisation on gambling in South Africa. Prior to 1995, betting on horse racing was the only legal form of gambling allowed – save for the casinos in the “home- lands”, which were deemed independent territories within South African borders and therefore not forming part of the Republic legally. The nine provincial statutes are: • the Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Act 1997; • the Free State Gambling and Liquor Act 2010; • the Gauteng Gambling Act 1995; • the KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting Act 2010; • the Limpopo Gambling Act 2013;
• the Mpumalanga Gambling Act 1995; • the Northern Cape Gambling Act 2008; • the North West Gambling Act 2001; and
• the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Act 1996. Whilst some of these statutes have been “overhauled” as recently as 2013, in essence the content of the statutes has remained the same, in terms of core con- cepts, since the late 1990s. This leaves much of the adaptation of the respec- tive statutes and their application to the discretion of the respective regulators and their interpretation of 20–30-year-old statutes in the light of present circum- stances and technological innovations. 3.2 Definition of Gambling The NGA defines “gambling” broadly as participating in a game, bet or wager for consideration and the possibility of a prize. It covers both gaming (casino- style games of chance, bingo, and so on) and betting (wagering on an outcome of an event or contingency). Notably, “interactive gambling” is defined as the play- ing of any gambling game by electronic means (inter- net, telephone, and so on) for real money. Interactive gambling is explicitly prohibited unless licensed, and since no interactive licences are currently issued, this effectively bans online casino operations. By contrast, online betting on sports or contingencies is not classi- fied as interactive gambling in the NGA – it is treated under the definition of a “bet or wager” on an uncer- tain event. This distinction has created some confu- sion but legally means online betting is allowed under provincial bookmaker licences on approved contin- gencies which might include “casino style” games, whereas online casino games are not allowed at all. Each provincial law mirrors these definitions in gener- al, sometimes with slight variations. For example, pro- vincial acts define what constitutes a “bet” within that province, often by reference to the national definitions. The Portapa case discussion hinged on the definition of a “sporting event” in Gauteng’s law, highlighting how provincial specifics can further refine the broad national definitions. With some irony the case turned on the fact that “contingencies” as defined in the NGA
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