Willem Beeby, Manager Growth and Innovation at TEBA

Yesterday, while watching South Africa’s newest cricket league – a refreshing showcase of world‑class talent and a revitalising force for our domestic game – I was struck by something deeply concerning. Within 30 minutes, more than five online betting platforms advertised during the broadcast, saturating the experience with gambling prompts. At least one of these operators, I noted, does not appear to be licensed in South Africa and is inaccessible from an RSA domain.

This oversupply of betting content is not an isolated irritation. It is a symptom of a larger, rapidly escalating issue: online gambling in South Africa is growing faster than our regulatory systems, consumer protection mechanisms, and household financial resilience can keep up with.

A Rapidly Growing Threat to Economic Stability

In 2025 alone, South Africans spent an estimated R44 billion on legal sports betting, a significant portion of which flowed offshore to foreign operators. Online betting now exceeds all other forms of legalised gambling in the country and continues to expand aggressively, enabled by low operating costs and unprecedented advertising expenditure.

Online platforms, unlike traditional gambling operators, require minimal physical infrastructure. This allows them to direct enormous budgets toward dominating prime media slots—television, radio, social media, and event sponsorships—creating an environment where gambling is portrayed as an everyday, harmless pastime rather than a high‑risk financial behaviour.

A Warning from Business Leaders: Household Spending Is Under Strain

The concerns around online gambling are not confined to social activists or financial counsellors. Increasingly, business leaders in the FMCG sector—often the first to observe shifts in consumer purchasing behaviour—are raising the alarm.

When the CEO of one of South Africa’s largest retailers publicly warns that online gambling is eroding household purchasing power and the social net created by SASSA Grants, we should all pay attention.

As disposable income is diverted toward betting rather than essential goods, the downstream economic effects become unavoidable: reduced consumer spending, increased debt levels, and heightened vulnerability among low‑ to middle‑income households.

Long-Term Impact on Retirement Security

From a retirement planning perspective, the crisis brewing today will have delayed but severe consequences. Reduced disposable income today means lower contribution levels tomorrow. Patterns of financial distress, once established, often result in contribution reductions, reduced savings, and early withdrawals.

Without proactive education and robust regulation, the retirement system will bear the impact of today’s online gambling surge for decades to come.

Frontline Evidence: The Human Cost of Online Gambling

As a tracing agency, we encounter firsthand the destructive effects that gambling addiction can have on individuals and families. Many of the cases we see involve primary breadwinners who resign impulsively, withdraw their retirement savings prematurely, or squander post‑employment payouts due to uncontrolled gambling habits. The two pot system may have reduced the impact of this, but it has defitinetly not eliminated this behaviour.

An Outdated Legal Framework is Failing South Africans

Despite the rapid expansion of online gambling, the regulatory framework governing the sector remains outdated and misaligned with South Africa’s economic and social priorities. Several gaps require urgent attention:

1. Corporate Social Investment Is Not an Explicit Requirement

Although some gambling boards include CSI in their assessment criteria, the requirements are neither explicit nor standardised. Given the exceptionally low cost base and high profit margins of online operators, CSI expectations should be clearer, more stringent, and directly tied to profits.

2. Mandatory Support Services Exclude Financial Counselling

Legal support requirements currently focus on addiction counselling but fail to incorporate financial counselling—a crucial component for addressing both the causes and consequences of gambling-related harm. The financial services sector has a meaningful role to play here, yet the law does not require collaboration.

3. Limited Local Economic Participation

Because digital gambling operations are largely offshore, they do not meaningfully contribute to local job creation, skills development, or empowerment of historically disadvantaged South Africans. Licensing should be explicitly linked to local economic inputs—including system development, marketing, and operational support from South African companies.

The Case for Reform: What South Africa Needs Now

To protect consumers and safeguard long‑term economic wellbeing, South Africa urgently needs a modernised, comprehensive regulatory approach that includes:

• A unified national framework for online gambling regulation
  Eliminating inconsistent provincial approaches and tightening enforcement against unlicensed operators.
• Mandatory financial counselling as part of all gambling support structures
  Addiction counselling alone is insufficient to address financial devastation.
• Clear, enforceable CSI requirements tied to operator profits
  Focus areas should include financial literacy, youth education, and community resilience.
• Requirements for local economic participation
  Offshore operators should not profit disproportionately from South Africans without contributing to our economy.
• Limits on advertising volume and placement
  Particularly during sporting events and periods with high youth viewership.

Conclusion: We Cannot Ignore the Warning Signs

Online gambling is accelerating at a pace that outstrips South Africa’s regulatory readiness and threatens household stability, retirement security, and broader economic resilience. Without deliberate, coordinated action from regulators, businesses, and industry bodies, we risk gambling away more than our money—we risk the futures of millions of South Africans.

This issue is not about restricting choice; it is about ensuring that the playing field is fair, responsible, and aligned with our national priorities. The time to act is now.

ENDS