Can South Africa lead the continent's crypto gambling revolution?

Burdened by heavy processing fees in Africa, gaming and sports betting multinational supergroup announced in November 2025 Plan to launch digital currencyZAR Supercoin (ZARSC), in South Africa.

The phased rollout in the giant's top markets globally began with a soft beta launch in mid-April. Neil Menashe, CEO of Super Group, said, During the company's Q1 earnings call on May 12That this will be for the group's Betway South Africa customers. With processing fees being the supergroup's largest after-tax expense, widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies could help cut expenses on the continent.

“Remember,” Menashe said during the call, “to remind everybody in Africa, our biggest after-tax expense is these processing fees, especially at sportsbooks, where it costs a lot of money to deposit, cash out, re-deposit, get in and out of the same money. So that ecosystem, we're getting right.”

Africa is the main focus of Super Group's business. This was said in February Its revenue for the year increased by $396.8 million Up $2.2 billion year-over-year. This was due to strong performance in Africa, which saw a 27% increase in GGR. South Africa, the continent's largest and most industrialized economy, typically accounts for between 30% and 39% of total group revenues.

ZARSC, which is being used as a payment option for the group's Betway sportsbook brand, is operating under the group's new division, Super Money SA. It was listed on Luno, a major cryptocurrency exchange, with top South African bank Absa Group having custody of its fiat currency backing reserves at 1-1 against the local currency. SuperCoin was deployed on the Solana blockchain, while Chainalysis is providing compliance solutions.

Moore Blockchain & Digital Assets, a South African audit and advisory group, said in a May 11 ZARSC reserves report that as of April 30, there were 4,027,042 ZARSC in circulation (equivalent to $241,547.11). The fair value of reserve assets in the bank was R5,417,804.44 (equivalent to $325,110.92).

This means that, as of the snapshot date, the reserve coverage ratio was 134.54%, indicating that the value of identified reserve assets exceeds the circulating supply, Moore said in the report. Announcing the plan in November, the supergroup said Africa's stablecoin would amount to $100 billion across major markets.

Crypto payments more cost effective

Wendy Rosenbrugg, head of the digital media and electronic communications practice at Werxmans Attorneys in Johannesburg, South Africa, told IGB that punters are increasingly using crypto to fund their accounts to place bets on licensed betting sites and illegal offshore betting sites. They are using crypto as their normal payment mechanism and/or in situations where their credit card transactions fail.

“In contrast to the high transaction fees charged by payment service providers, crypto offers licensed speculators a more cost-effective payment mechanism to receive bets,” she says.

“Illegal offshore gambling sites leverage crypto to bypass regulatory mechanisms, as crypto currently operates outside centralized banking clearing systems. These offshore sites can use crypto to avoid banks blocking transactions on illegal offshore sites, as well as avoid KYC requirements. This is clearly a concern given the extent of illegal gambling in South Africa and its many adverse consequences.”

South Africa's financial sector regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), recognizes crypto as a financial product, placing it under the jurisdiction of the Financial Advisers and Intermediaries Services Act (FAIS). Crypto asset service providers must be licensed under the FAIS Act, and the FSCA can monitor compliance with financial regulations and take enforcement action.

Crypto speculators in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent generally benefit from quick transaction processing times, low transaction fees, avoiding the burden of Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and the need to share personal information and anonymity. However, they sometimes pay more on some crypto platforms, including during busy times.

Is the anonymity of crypto becoming less attractive?

But according to crypto consultant Stephen Kovach, crypto still plays only a complementary role. “This is providing players with faster, more secure and more anonymous payment options, with stablecoins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT gaining major adoption,” he says.

“In my opinion, the fee argument is the strongest case for crypto in this market. Traditional bank fees exceed R1 even on small transactions, while stablecoin payments can be free. This is a meaningful savings at scale. Beyond fees, near-instant transactions, privacy and borderless access to international platforms are the real benefits.

“On the downside, price volatility, lack of consumer protections on unregulated platforms and tightening KYC requirements are real concerns. As regulators move closer, the appeal of anonymity is also diminishing.”

Kovach believes that ZARSC is different from previous crypto gambling experiments because it is a product of a NYSE-listed structure. “That institutional credibility can make a real difference,” he added.

While the supergroup estimates the volume of stablecoins on the continent at around $100 billion, Angela Itzikowitz and Dylan Marthez, lawyers at ENS Africa's South African unit, say it is difficult to overestimate the share of crypto use in the gambling market. “South African gambling statistics generally track recognized licensed categories such as bookmaking, casinos, bingo and limited payout machines,” he said in a note in response to IGB questions.

“They typically do not break out crypto-settled gambling, stablecoin-settled gambling or crypto-linked event products as a separate category. Some activity may also occur through offshore platforms, making it difficult to measure from domestic regulatory or market data.”

The South African Bookmakers Association, which brings together most of the licensed operators in the country, has recently released the findings of a research study it commissioned into gambling activity in the country. It established that illegal platforms make up approximately 62% of the economy's online gambling market, with more than R50 billion (about $3 billion) flowing offshore in GGR annually. 16 million South Africans were active on illegal gambling platforms in 2025.

“For now,” Itzikowitz and Marthes say, “the better view is that crypto is commercially and legally relevant, but not yet a separately measurable part of South Africa’s licensed gambling market. Any reliable estimate would require operator-level data, payment-flow data, licensing information or regulatory-level reporting.”

Crypto gambling expands across Africa

Speaking during a May 12 call, Menashe said the group will remain patient as it assesses how the ZARSC pilot will progress before a potential rollout to other markets on the continent. “We will just be patient with ZAR Supercoin and see how it goes,” he said.

“In other markets we will obviously bring it there once we've seen how it works in South Africa, and there's different legislation there. Obviously, we also have legislation in seven other markets in Africa, and we hope to bring it there as soon as we get this part in South Africa. It's very exciting. It's something new. It's new to the consumer. So, let's see how we get on.”

Kovach highlighted that some reports suggest that players in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda are turning to crypto to circumvent banking restrictions and cross-border fees. Ghana enacted it Virtual Asset Service Provider Legislation in December 2025, which could promote its own betting market.

“West Africa, Nigeria and Ghana in particular are where the next wave of crypto gambling activity is most likely to be driven by currency volatility and a mobile-first population,” he told IGB.

Looking to the future and the broader African market, Itzikovitz, Marthez and Kovach stressed the need for greater regulatory clarity as one of the main factors to encourage deeper adoption of cryptocurrencies in the continent’s gambling and betting market.

“Operators will need comfort over gambling laws, crypto-asset regulation, AML (anti-money laundering) obligations, tax, exchange controls, and consumer protection before they can adopt stablecoins on a large scale,” Itzikowitz and Marthez said.

“Until there are public operator announcements or regulatory level data, it is too early to characterize stablecoin adoption as a broader South African market trend.”

Kovach argues that the current South African law is relevant but incomplete. “The FSCA declared crypto assets a financial product in 2022 and is licensing crypto asset service providers from 2023,” he says.

“That covers the crypto side. But online casino gambling remains largely restricted, and the remote gambling bill has still not reached the voting stage, a process that could still take years. In my view, the main problem is that the two regulatory silos, the FSCA for crypto and the National Gambling Board for gaming, are not yet talking coherently to each other. Until this changes, crypto gambling will continue to operate in a gray area,” Kovach concluded.

Regulated crypto gambling is gaining popularity in other global markets, especially Europe. the UK Gambling Commission says it will consider allowing crypto payments If an efficient regulatory framework is established by the government for online gambling.

Some markets have developed more advanced than others in Europe. But the general consensus is that the march toward regulated crypto gambling is already underway.