What’s the Deal With South Africa and Online Gambling?

Numbers suggest that South Africa could feature a thriving online gambling market. The Rainbow Nation features nearly 58 million residents and the world’s 35^th largest economy ($359 billion GDP).

However, this country only allows one form of internet gambling—sports betting. It bans all other types of internet wagering, including poker and casino games, and threatens to prosecute violators.

Despite these restrictive laws, many South Africans still play online casino games and poker. What’s the deal here!?

You can find out more about this nation’s internet gambling laws below along with if it’s safe to place illegal bets.

What Are South Africa’s Online Gambling Laws?

In 2004, Parliament passed the National Gambling Act. This legislation outlaws every type of internet gambling besides sports wagering. In 2008, a growing movement sought to legalize online casinos and poker sites. However, the movement faced stiff opposition and eventually abandoned their position.

Internet sports betting remains the only form of legal online gambling today. Furthermore, South Africa criminalizes the act of placing illegal wagers.

Several other countries, such as Kuwait and Lebanon, feature similar laws. However, they don’t enforce them through actual arrests.

The Rainbow Nation differs in this matter, though. For example, the government confiscated R1.25 million from a group that illegally gambled online in 2017. The maximum penalty for unlawful online gambling is 10 years in prison and an R10 million fine. Luckily, anybody caught placing illegal bets has been spared such a harsh punishment.

But the Department of Trade did reinforce the notion that they can confiscate unlawful winnings at any point in 2017.

South Africa allows each of its nine provinces to license land-based and online sportsbooks. Therefore, people can legally place bets as long as they do so through a licensed bookmaker.

Illegal Online Casinos Still Serve South Africa

South Africa features tough gambling laws on both its residents and illegal operators. However, South Africa has yet to take any action against the latter.

Offshore casinos, poker sites, and even sportsbooks continue serving the Rainbow Nation. They feel comfortable floating the laws when considering the inaction so far.

The federal government is mostly focused on ensuring that its citizens don’t place bets. They haven’t put together a mass legal effort to take down unlawful bookmakers, casinos, and poker rooms.

Of course, offshore operators feel emboldened in other countries with anti-online gambling laws too. But they especially enjoy targeting the lucrative South African market.

How You Can Gamble Online in South Africa

You have two main options for betting online in this nation:

• Licensed internet sportsbooks
• Unlawful offshore casinos, poker sites, and bookmakers

Ideally, you’ll be an avid sports gambler who chooses licensing operators. You can bet into a safe and regulated market this way without fears of legal repercussions.

South Africa features more than 30 licensed online bookmakers spanning its borders. Therefore, you’ll enjoy plenty of legal options in this country. However, you may like playing poker and casino games as well. Unfortunately, you don’t have any legal options for this type of betting.

You run the risk of having winnings confiscated by playing at such sites. This occurrence is extremely rare, although it does remain an outside possibility.

With that said, you must immediately decide if you’re comfortable taking such risks. Assuming you’re fine with the risk, you can enjoy internet casinos, poker rooms, and sportsbooks. You simply need to sign up for an account to get started. The registration at licensed bookmakers is a little more involved than the offshore options.

But you still shouldn’t experience much trouble registering. Afterward, you can choose whether or not to place a deposit.

Unlawful operators don’t accept as many deposit options. However, you can still use e-wallets (e.g. Neteller, Skrill), Visa, Mastercard, Bitcoin, bank transfer, and/or Western Union. After depositing, you can began placing real-money wagers.

Do You Have to Pay Taxes on Your Winnings?

You only need to pay taxes on online winnings when betting on horse races. Internet horse racing betting features a 6% value added tax (VAT) on profits.

But you don’t need to cover taxes on winnings from “recreational” sports betting. The government sees you as an amateur in such cases.

You do have to pay income taxes if you’re a professional gambler who relies on betting for a living. South Africa treats sports wagering as your job in this situation.

Assuming you win big at an unlawful operator, then you’re better off not reporting the winnings. The government is much more likely to confiscate your profits.

Will You Be Arrested for Playing at Illegal Gaming Sites?

As covered before, you face up to 10 years’ imprisonment and an R10 million fine for placing illegal wagers. These are among the harshest online gambling laws anywhere.

The good news, though, is that you’re highly unlikely to get caught making unlawful bets anyways. I can only find one incident (involving the confiscated R1.25 million) where the government took action against players.

This isn’t to say that South Africa hasn’t busted other people for online gambling at some point. However, the lack of available information shows that such instances are rare.

You do face the prospect of jail time and a large fine if caught gambling on unregulated sites. But realistically, you won’t get caught and, especially, arrested unless you’re waving illegal betting activities in front of law enforcement.

Can You Find Safe Online Gambling Sites in South Africa?

Safe gaming is a concern among all internet gamblers. After all, you don’t want to get ripped off by a rogue site and lose your deposit.

Your best option for staying safe in the South African market is to choose licensed bookmakers. The latter are subject to national laws and more trustworthy as a result.

Any legal sportsbook that rips gamblers off faces the distinct possibility of losing its license. Those in charge could also face jail time of the scam is blatant enough.

Therefore, you don’t need to worry about being cheating with regulated bookmakers for the most part. The government oversees the industry and ensures protections for gamblers.

The safety prospects become more complicated with regard to offshore operators. Unlawful poker sites, casinos, and sportsbooks don’t adhere to South Africa’s laws.

Instead, they only need to worry about the rules in their jurisdiction. Standards are extremely low in a jurisdiction like Costa Rica, for example.

I’m not saying that you can’t find quality offshore operators. You do, however, need to be more careful in such instances.

How to Choose Quality South African Online Gambling Sites

Again, you’re mostly safe when betting with licensed South African bookmakers. However, you should consider the following advice when vetting an unlawful operator.

Step 1: Check out Rankings

Some gambling related sites, including our own, offer rankings on their favorite online casinos, sportsbooks, and poker rooms. These rankings help you quickly spot worthwhile sites.

Of course, you may not agree with our assessment or anybody else’s. But you can at least use such lists as a starting point.

After all, the gambling world is a vast place. You don’t want to be stuck googling and researching countless sites on your own.

Step 2: Read Reviews

Upon finding a prospective casino, poker room, or bookmaker, you should begin reading reviews on them. A review provides a more in-depth assessment of a particular site.

Such resources cover game/betting variety, bonuses, banking options, reputation, and customer support. They save you from needing to go over each of these aspects yourself.

Step 3: Contact Customer Support

Good customer service is a glowing endorsement for any gambling site. After all, quality support indicates that the operation as a whole is well run.

Of course, you can just rely on reviews for this aspect. But some reviews merely gloss over support without actually contacting the site in question.

You can ask a basic question through live chat. The response will tell you how knowledgeable and friendly the reps are.

Step 4: Read Bonus Terms and Conditions

Some gambling operators offer unbelievable bonuses only to cheat you on the terms and conditions. You always want to look at the terms and conditions behind such offers before depositing.

First off, you need to ensure that the playthrough is fair. Unusually high playthrough forces you to bet far more to unlock a bonus.

Next, you should make sure that all terms are clear. Ambiguous terms and conditions leave loopholes for nefarious operators to cheat you on bonus deals.

Conclusion

South Africa’s stance on real money online gambling is a strange one. On one hand, it offers over 30 licensed online sportsbooks across its nine provinces.

However, the federal government bans and criminalizes all other types of online gambling. You could theoretically face 10 years in prison just for betting over the internet.

Fortunately, you’re highly unlikely to face this or any other punishment for illegal bets. South Africa has only confiscated winnings in rare instances.

But if you do play at unregulated sites, you should thoroughly know the potential consequences. Furthermore, you want to keep such betting activities to yourself.