Despite criticisms to the contrary, the National Gambling Board (NGB) reiterated on Friday that online gambling is still illegal in South Africa. The country has seen a huge rise in the popularity of both mobile sports betting and online digital casino games on smartphones.
one in new announcement Echoing previous statements, the NGB cites the National Gambling Act which states that “a person must not engage in or make available any interactive game except as authorized in terms of this Act or any other national law.”
In terms of what is defined as an “interactive game”, the Act states that any gambling game played through the mechanism of an electronic agent accessed over the Internet is “other than a game that can only be accessed for play on licensed premises.”
According to the NGB, South African law prohibits gambling outside of casinos. Interactive games may be available within the casino, but South Africans are not legally allowed to gamble on casino games on their phones, nor are South African companies allowed to offer these games.
The board now says it has issued a formal notice to all provincial licensing authorities to clarify the status of remote gambling servers in South Africa.
Last year, the NGB said that South Africa does not allow interactive gambling, and only “fixed odds betting” is allowed on mobile devices and the internet. Despite South Africans, interactive digital casino games are not legal Losses exceed R50 billion Many of the illegal online gambling platforms last year were foreign-operated.
Analysts have claimed that South Africa is currently facing a gambling crisis, with South Africans expected to spend more than R1.5 trillion on gambling in 2025 – the largest figure ever in the country's history. The accessibility of online gambling and betting platforms and the ongoing unemployment problem drive a large portion of the population to gambling, of which playing lotteries is still the most popular method.
statistics sa revealed It was reported in September 2025 that 55 percent of the average household spend in South Africa is on gambling due to the ease and convenience of these digital platforms.
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