South Africa’s gambling industry has set a new revenue record for the 2023-24 financial year, with a 25.7 percent increase from the previous year. The National Gambling Board’s latest report reveals that total gambling revenue reached to $3.39bn (ZAR59.24bn), surpassing the previous high of $2.7bn (ZAR47.12bn) set in 2022-23. Sports betting remained the dominant contributor, accounting for more than half of all revenue.
Sports betting drives growth in South Africa
Sports betting was by far the biggest revenue driver, generating $2.06bn (ZAR35.91bn), which equates to 60.5 percent of all gambling revenue for the year. This marks a 51.2 percent growth compared to the previous year, highlighting the sector’s increasing popularity. Online betting led the way, with $1.66bn (ZAR28.97bn) of revenue coming from this vertical alone, accounting for 49 percent of total market revenue.
Online sports betting is currently legal only in a few provinces, including the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and North West. Despite these restrictions, the growth in online betting has been staggering, driven by the convenience and widespread adoption of digital platforms.
Retail betting holds steady
While online sports betting dominated, retail betting also made a significant contribution, bringing in $0.40bn (ZAR6.94bn). This represents 19 percent of the total betting revenue and 11.7 percent of the overall gambling market revenue. However, other areas of the gambling industry saw mixed results, with the casino sector remaining flat and other verticals showing only modest growth.
Retail casinos were the second-largest revenue generator, bringing in $0.99bn (ZAR17.36bn). This sector remained largely flat, growing by just 0.1 percent compared to the previous year. Limited payout machines (LPMs) saw a slight decline in revenue, dropping 1.9 percent year-on-year to $0.24bn (ZAR4.15bn). Meanwhile, bingo showed some positive movement, with a 2.4 percent rise to $0.11bn (ZAR1.89bn).
Record-breaking wagers
Consumers wagered a total of $64.98bn (ZAR1.14tn) during the 2023-24 financial year, up 40.2 percent from the previous year’s record of $46.65bn (ZAR815.11bn). Sports betting made up the bulk of this, with $3.51bn (ZAR761.26bn), or 66.6 percent of total wagers. Casinos accounted for $17.02bn (ZAR297.42bn), while LPMs and bingo attracted $3.08bn (ZAR53.74bn) and $1.73bn (ZAR30.27bn), respectively.
Western cape leads in revenue
Provincial breakdowns show Western Cape leading with $1.08bn (ZAR18.79bn) in gambling revenue, followed by Gauteng with $0.75bn (ZAR13.10bn). Mpumalanga, which drew the highest volume of wagers at $2.02bn (ZAR359.34bn), ranked third in revenue at $0.74bn (ZAR12.98bn).
The government also saw a boost in tax revenue, with $0.28bn (ZAR4.84bn) collected, 50 percent of which came from sports betting, including $50.87m (ZAR889m) from online betting.
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