Major crackdown on gambling advertisements in South Africa

The National Gambling Board (NBG) plans to crack down on gambling advertising in South Africa, which has boomed in recent years in the absence of sufficient guidelines.

Among other interventions, the NGB plans to tighten regulations and implement significant fines and temporary advertising rights suspensions for non-compliance.

In a recent presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition, South Africa’s gambling watchdog highlighted the growing problem of gambling advertisements.

The board said there has been a proliferation of gambling advertising in South Africa without sufficient guidelines.

Many South Africans have noticed an increasing number of gambling advertisements across the country, with the logos of gambling giants prominently displayed anywhere from airports to sport stadiums to social media.

The NGB explained that this proliferation has happened without sufficient guidelines, which has normalised gambling in society and fostered harmful gambling habits.

“Regulations as well as norms and standards governing gambling advertising are required to ensure that punters are protected from the negative social consequences of gambling and increased public education on the risks of gambling,” the board said.

To address this, the NGB said it has undertaken compliance oversight of the country’s nine provincial licensing authorities.

In addition, the board has engaged with sports regulators regarding, among other things, sponsorships by unlicensed operators to flight their adverts.

It has also raised concerns with South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) and engaged social media providers like Google.

In particular, the NGB is seeking to protect young and vulnerable South Africans by banning the use of persons who appear to be under 25 years of age in gambling adverts and banning ‘youth-appealing’ imagery or characters.

The board is fruther looking to tighten licnce conditions to require age-gating, placement checks and record keeping.

According to the NGB, non-compliance with these tighter recommendations could carry severe consequences, including fines reaching around 5% of companies’ advertising spending or temporary advertising suspensions.

The board mentioned that it is also focused on reducing incidental exposure, which happen through adverts that are on TV, for example, by restricting gambling advertising to certain hours.

Gambling crushing South Africans

The proliferation of online gambling in South Africa, which is now the nation’s most popular form of gambling, has also led to a rise in “problem gambling”.

The NGB’s presentation revealed a 31% problem gambling prevalence in the 2023/24 finanical year.

Old Mutual also recently performed an analysis of how online gambling impacts South Africans’ finances, which was included in its latest Savings and Investments Monitor for 2025.

This report showed that 52% of working South Africans gamble, with it being the most popular among 30 to 49 year-old men. 

In addition, it found that 40% of working South Africans acknowledge they gamble frequently, hoping to make money that can cover some of their expenses and debt.

This is an increase from previous measures, with the report showing it is more prevalent among lower-income earners in South Africa. It found that almost half of those earning between R8,000 and R15,000 gamble frequently to cover expenses.

The survey also found that the vast majority of gambling occurs online, via an app on a betting website. Sports betting ranked as the most popular gambling type at 61%, followed by the lotto at 53% and slots at 52%.

A bit more than 60% of gamblers gamble at least once a week, with around 40% gambling even more frequently. Around 10% admitted they gamble every day.

Concerningly, the report found that almost 30% of frequent gamblers said they started when a betting company offered them a starter wallet or a voucher.

In addition, Old Mutual’s data indicated that 20% of gamblers had to borrow, use credit, or sell something to fund their gambling.

Around 25% acknowledged that they find themselves in financial difficulty as a direct result of their gambling. 

Online gambling is only expected to grow in South Africa, with 60% of the country’s gross gambling revenue generated from online betting in the 2024/25 financial year, outpacing all other forms of gambling.