Author name: Fanie Zevgolis

South Africa’s gambling market is evolving quickly. Clear regulation should protect consumers, support licensed businesses and keep activity within the regulated market.

Terms such as online casino, betting site, bookmaker, licensed casino and licensed bookmaker are often used closely together online, which can make them sound interchangeable. They do not always mean the same thing, though, and this is where online casino terminology can become misleading for South Africans.

With scam websites, misleading adverts and unlicensed offshore betting sites still accepting bets from South Africans, it is important to know how to use The National Gambling Board Verified Operators portal to check whether a betting site is locally licensed and whether the company behind it matches official regulatory records. The portal gives South Africans a way to verify licensed gambling businesses using information supplied by the country’s provincial gambling authorities and compiled into one list by the NGB.

The National Gambling Board (NGB) and Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) have entered into a formal partnership aimed at strengthening the oversight of gambling advertising and improving consumer protection in South Africa.

Before registering an account with a betting site in South Africa, the most important thing to check is whether it holds a local bookmaker licence issued by one of the nine provincial gambling boards.