![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image002.png\")
<\/a>All eyes on the industry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Political parties and other groups have been increasing their pressure on the government to crack down on the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recent Bettabets survey<\/a> found that nearly half of gamblers in South Africa do it in the hope of meeting rising living costs, like school fees and rent, with 70% gambling to supplement their income, not for entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only 27% of winners set aside part of their earnings for savings or investment, and most spend it immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This highlights South Africa\u2019s socio-economic woes, low savings rate, and irresponsibility of betting in the hopes of covering monthly expenses or paying off debts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gana recently observed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of the Social Relief Grant coincided with an increase in gambling activity and revenue\u2014a trend that persists to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, Social Development Sisisi Tolashe said that \u201cthe department only addresses addictions that are within its mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Seemingly no Government Department or Cabinet Minister, wants to act against gambling addicition,” said Gana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With gambling addiction escalating and millions drawn in by pervasive advertising, calls for tighter regulations are growing louder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The RISE Mzansi MP, whose party is part of the Government of National Unity (GNU), is calling on Parliament to prioritise and harmonise two bills\u2014the Remote Gambling Bill and the National Gambling Amendment Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gana recently told BusinessTech that he believes the current National Gambling Act (NGA) \u201cis inadequate\u201d in tackling the current landscape, particularly in regulating online gambling and advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He proposes upping gambling’s tax rate, as well as adding gambling as a \u201cSin Tax\u201d, much like tobacco and alcohol. This is to disincentivise addiction while using the revenue generated for rehabilitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, gambling companies pay 8% of their Gross Gambling Revenue, totaling R4.9 billion of the R59.8 billion revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gana also expressed concern about pervasive gambling ads, especially during sports events, and the rise of “career gamblers.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n He criticised the use of social media influencers promoting gambling, which he says creates unrealistic expectations of winnings while downplaying addiction risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The MP said his party “will continue pressing for Parliament and the Executive to take the gambling crisis seriously.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We also remain committed to advancing gambling reforms, which will, inter alia, <\/em>see the regulation of gambling advertising and the introduction of a gambling sin tax \u2013 as is the case with the liquor and tobacco products.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding oversight, the National Gambling Board (NGB) is empowered by the NGA to oversee licensing and monitor licensees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is mandated to enhance broad-based public education, address illegality in the sector, and monitor socio-economic patterns of gambling activity within the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Daily Maverick reported<\/a> in December 2024 how the explosion of gambling in South Africa \u201cis happening at a time when the NGB does not, in fact, have a board \u2014 and has not had a board for a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The number of people in South Africa seeking help with their gambling addiction has increased eightfold over the past four financial years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":786802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22124,1495,22123,19491,853],"class_list":["post-818194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-betting","tag-gambling","tag-makashule-gana","tag-rise-mzansi","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818194"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818235,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818194\/revisions\/818235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>