Legal Betting Sites in South Africa

Are online Betting sites Legal in South Africa?

Well, that depends.

What renders an online betting site legal, and thus the betting it oversees, is whether or not it is licensed by a national gambling board.

Licensing ensures that the betting site is regulated, and thus confirms that the online betting site’s practices are lawful and safe to partake in. Betting sites can be licensed by one (or more) of 9 provincial regulatory gambling boards.

Keep in mind that these provincial licensing authorities target the operators themselves, and where they (the operators) conduct their business.

What this means is that if an online betting operator is licensed by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board, but you live in the Free State, you are still able to bet with them.

The bets are placed over the internet, and the business is technically conducted where the betting operator is located, meaning if you’re betting online, you are free to choose any licensed online betting operator from wherever you are in South Africa.

So Licensed Betting Sites are legal, but what about Online Casinos?

While licensed betting sites are legal, online casinos are not strictly legal. In fact, Legal gambling sites in the form of online casinos do not exist.

This is not to say that South African online casinos do not exist, they do.

They're just not legal. Legal online gambling sites exist exclusively in the form of licensed sports betting sites in South Africa, as the provision of interactive gambling (gambling over the internet) in the forms of casino games, bingo and poker by online operators is prohibited in South Africa.

While this is the case, many operators still offer casino games, bingo, poker, and more. Know that the onus is never on you, the user, but on the provider.

So if you take part in these games, you do not run the risk of any legal action.

Legality around gambling and online gambling has been highly contested, and steeped in uncertainty in South Africa from as early as the country’s inception. South Africa’s Gambling Act of 1965 outlawed all forms of gambling.

Within a decade however, a highly lucrative underground casino industry operating out of the Bantustans emerged.

These illegal operations were inaccessible to most citizens, and only served players from the surrounding areas.

The changing of the political tides in 1994, came with a fresh stance on gambling in South Africa. It was at this time when the process of legalising gambling began, and official legislation soon followed.

The National Gambling Act of 1996 was implemented to construct norms and standards, and to regulate a fledgling lawful gambling industry.

This act also gave rise to the National Gambling Board, the residing gambling authority in the nation that still exists today.

How do you tell legal betting sites apart from illegal betting sites?

The answer is fairly simple. Legal betting sites want to make you aware that they are licensed and regulated.

They generally disclose the national gambling board they are licensed within the footers of their websites, which can be found right at the bottom of their website homepages.

To clear any confusion up, here is our list of the best legal betting sites, and the licenses they hold:

Now that you know all there is to know about betting legally, choose one of the best legal betting sites and start betting today!