Three JSE-listed companies coming after Betway and Hollywoodbets in South Africa

South Africa’s online gambling market is currently dominated by two players – Hollywoodbets and Betway – who account for over half of the market, according to some estimates.

However, amid South Africa’s online gambling boom, three JSE-listed giants – Sun International, Tsogo Sun, and Goldrush – are looking to take a slice of the pie.

Camissa Asset Management’s Nicholas Brown recently analysed the competitive dynamics in South Africa’s online gambling market.

Brown explained that Betway and Hollywoodbets benefited from early entry into the market, which allowed them the time to build trusted brands and technology infrastructure.

This, he said, has placed other players in South Africa’s gambling market on the back foot, particularly companies that operate land-based casinos and now need to play catch-up with the online alternatives.

Brown pointed to three locally listed companies, Sun International, Tsogo Sun, and Goldrush, as examples.

He said all three of these companies are now pursuing omni-channel strategies that integrate their digital and physical offerings, with varying degrees of success.

According to Brown, Sun International, with its Sunbet platform, has progressed most rapidly, commanding roughly 3% of the market and online revenue now significantly larger than that of the other two.

However, Tsogo Sun, with playTSOGO, and Goldrush, with Gbets, are investing heavily in skills, technology and marketing.

This, he said, should support faster scaling over time and enable the companies to expand their market shares beyond the current 1%. 

“Evolution in international markets has shown that this is essential to remain competitive in the long term,” he said.

“Within weakening physical channels, operators are focusing on cost control and footprint optimisation.” 

“This includes reducing machine counts to improve utilisation, relocating machines to higher-performing sites, and disposing of smaller or underperforming casinos.” 

Notably, Brown said that despite the rapid expansion of online gambling, large urban land-based casinos have demonstrated resilience.

These casinos now often serve as entertainment hubs, and many continue to generate strong cash flows.

The graphic below, courtesy of Brown and Camissa, shows the gambling revenue mix for Sun International, Tsogo Sun, and Goldrush.

An uphill battle

While these three listed companies are investing heavily in growing their share of the online gambling market, Brown said they may face an uphill battle in taking on the two biggest players.

“Given their late start and the scale of established online operators, the three listed gambling companies are unlikely to gain meaningful market share,” he said. 

“However, online gambling will be a source of growth and their traditional gambling businesses are inexpensively priced on the stock market today.”

In Sun International’s latest annual results for its 2025 financial year, the hospitality giant reported that Sunbet grew its income by 76% to R2.07 billion.

The company said this strong growth was driven by higher levels of customer engagement and increased deposits.

All of Sunbet’s key operating metrics recorded meaningful growth, including increases in unique active players by 40.8%, first-time depositors by 47.7%, and total deposits by 101.5%.

“Sunbet remains well positioned in an expanding market and continues to deliver strong growth; management remains focused on investing to further scale the business and enhance long-term returns,” the company said. 

“This includes significant investment in technology to enhance our product offering and provide greater scalability and leverage in future years.”

Tsogo Sun’s latest annual results gave little insight into its playTSOGO platform. The company also operates another online betting platform, Bet.co.za.

While the company did not provide financial metrics for these platforms in its annual results, it explained that they provide exciting prospects for the group and should contribute positively to financial performance in future. 

“Continuous product development is expected to support growth,” Tsogo Sun said in its Integrated Report for the 2025 financial year.

Similarly, Goldrush provided very little detail regarding the Gbets platform in its 2025 annual results.