Online Casinos in South Africa 2024 – Play the South African Way

When it comes to Online Casino South Africa, the history of the country is as important as which casino you are able to play your hard-earned money at. Please take a look at our toplist below to see a list of Best Online South African Casinos where you can click, play and WIN.

Best South African Casinos

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What’s going on with Online Casinos in South Africa?

Thanks to the precarious gambling situation in South Africa, many studies have been carried out to monitor what the general public’s mindset with regards to gambling is and in fact, a 2006 study was able to illustrate exactly where South Africans are putting their money. Indeed, the most popular forms of gambling in South Africa are the National Lottery (96.6%), slot machines (27.7%), scratch cards (22.7%), charity jackpot competitions (11.6% participation), and horse racing betting (11.5% participation. It is interesting to note that a little over eight percent said that they had never gambled whilst 5.5% classified their position as being occasional gamblers who had no fixed preferences as to what they liked to play.

Despite the tight restrictions which surround South African gambling, in the financial year of 2006/2007, the gross gambling revenue amounted to R13.52billion which was 2 billion up from the previous year’s sum of R11.4 billion. Of this revenue, a not so meagre 86.2% could be accounted for via casinos, however, in that very same time span, the National Gambling Board also reported a total of 455 raids and closing down of illegal gambling setups.

Different types of South African gambling

Despite the fact that some forms of gambling are considered to be illegal by South African authorities, that doesn’t mean that should you should miss out on the opportunity to indulge and treat yourself if you are in this beautiful, one-of-a-kind country. Indeed, despite the fact that there are a number of things you won’t be able to legally play, this shouldn’t deter you in the least because the things you are forced to go without are more than made up for in the following ways:

• The National Lottery: The South African National Lottery has been around for almost two decades and has enjoyed a continuous streak of operation (apart from a very short period between April and October of 2007). With an average amount of five million transactions per week, this much-loved mode is by and large the most popular form of gambling in South Africa.
• Land-based casinos: There are few places in the world where you can find as many casinos per metropolitan area as there are in South Africa as citizens like nothing more than indulging their gambling needs in their downtime. If you are passing through Johannesburg you can’t go wrong with visiting the luxurious Tsogo Sun Montecasino where you’ll have a guaranteed good time whilst whetting your gambling appetite.
• Horse racing: Due to the fact that betting on horse racing was the only legal form of gambling in South Africa until 1996, this form of gambling has a special place in many South Africans’ hearts. That said, due to the complex nature of the game and the difficulty in getting new players on board, it has not managed to compete with any notable success with the relatively new introduced National Lottery which is much easier to access.

History of Gambling in South Africa Casinos

The history of gambling in South Africa has been somewhat tenuous with South Africa’s Gambling Act of 1965 basically banning all forms of gambling except betting on horse racing. That said, this didn’t stop casinos from operating at the end of the ’70s in the independent areas of Venda, Transkei, Bophuthatswana, and Ciskei where a great number of native South Africans resided. However, because of the aforementioned locations, most citizens didn’t really have proper access to casinos. In time, the number of illegal casinos dotted around the country grew and grew and by 1995 there were around 2000 illegal casinos spread across the country. So widespread was the practice that the new democratic government felt that the only way forward was to legalize all forms of gambling and in 1996 the National Gambling Act laid down a system of licensed casinos and a national lottery. In addition to this, the National Gambling Act sought to give different definitions to the melange of gambling notions and illustrated how the 40 gambling licenses issued would be divided among the provinces so that everyone would be able to get a piece of the action. In order to regulate everything, a National Gambling Board was founded to better supervise and provide guidance to the South African Gambling Industry. Despite all the previous efforts made, another National Gambling Act was passed in 2004 which repealed all the progress of 1996. Since then, The National Gambling Amendment Act was introduced in 2008; however, this legislation has been fraught with many conflicts and is yet to be introduced.

Online Gaming in South Africa

When it comes to online gaming in South Africa, there’s a bit of a grey area about what South Africans can legally play as the National Gambling Act of 2004 prohibited both the offering of interactive gambling services as well as online gaming itself. In addition to this, the restrictive legislation applies to all online operators whatever their jurisdiction. That said, this rule only extends to casino games, poker and bingo as South Africans can still take part in online sports betting and online horse race betting. It is important to note that the business of bookmaking itself is still legal in South Africa if the person has the necessary licenses and permits in place. Of course, only players who are of the South African legal gambling age are permitted.

Published in the summer of 2008, the National Gambling Amendment Act was designed solely for the purpose of making interactive gaming legal throughout the country as well as to make provisions for the regulation of the market. However, despite this commendable action, the Amendment Act was met with much opposition by land-based casino owners who felt that online gambling would greatly affect their revenue. Thanks to their ceaseless campaigning and applying much pressure on the government, the Act has yet to come into force.

Indeed, so intent is these factions on protecting their interests that in the summer of a mere two years after the National Gambling Amendment Act of 2008, even online gambling available through servers located outside of South Africa was banned thanks to a North Gauteng High Court judgment. Thus, in one fell swoop, both local offerings of online gambling services, as well as the offering of gambling services to the country from outside, became illegal with the only exceptions to this rule being horse racing and online sports betting. In order to deter people from partaking of online gambling further, the penalty for casino sites, individuals, internet service providers, and banks that process payments for online gamblers are subject to a fine of R10 million or 10 years of imprisonment.

Depositing and Withdrawing at Online Casinos South Africa

If you do manage to find a reputable South African Online Casino and you want to play with real money, you will find that you won’t be able to use your credit cards to deposit money, however, to the savvy gambler, this problem won’t bear much weight as you always have the facility of using third-party payment options such as prepaid and e-wallet services. For more info about this, visit our Payment Options pages and select the payment option which would best fit all your needs. It’s important to keep in mind that online gambling doesn’t always have to involve real money; in fact, you can have the best time ever playing for free with play money. If you choose the latter mode of play, you are guaranteed hours of legitimate fun and can learn your game of choice inside out before committing to spending big bucks. Here at CasinoTop10, we have everything from Free Classic Slots to High or Low to Free Jacks or Better.

Online Casino South Africa FAQs

The Best South African Casinos Online

Despite the fact that playing online casino in South Africa is hard, there are many efforts being made to change the South African situation and many people feel that the 2008 National Gambling Amendment Act will be initiated any day now given how long it has been on the brink of being passed. The best advice we at CasinoTop10.net can give you is to keep your eyes and ears open for any developments on the legal front and to take the opportunity to play at a Best Online South African casino whenever you get the chance. Of course, given the current situation, you should always check that the casino of your choice has a good, solid reputation and that you aren’t giving your hard-earned cash to some backstreet, shady so and so. The best way to do this is to check out reviews about the casino itself and maybe read about other people’s experiences on casino forums before making your decision. Always remember that it’s as important to put as much care into choosing a casino as you would into buying a car or a home. May the casino gods smile on your quest.