{"id":855891,"date":"2026-04-03T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=855891"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:52:08","slug":"the-truth-about-gambling-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/855891\/the-truth-about-gambling-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The truth about gambling in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), reports that South Africans spend R1.5 trillion on gambling are misleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its March 2026 Quarterly Bulletin, the central bank addressed reports that South Africa spent R1.5 trillion on gambling in 2024, equivalent to over 20% of gross domestic product for that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SARB said that while South Africans are definitely spending more on gambling, the R1.5 trillion figure doesn’t tell the full story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the figure represents gambling turnover, but does not account for payouts and winnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gambling turnover refers to the total amount that is wagered, encompassing both the initial bets and any winnings that are subsequently wagered again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This turnover increased more than fourfold over a decade, from R358 billion in 2015 to approximately R1.5 trillion in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, to get a clearer picture of how much households truly spend on betting, the SARB said it’s more effective to consider gross gambling revenue (GGR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GGR is calculated by subtracting the winnings returned to players from the total amount wagered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While GGR also experienced significant growth\u2014rising from R26.3 billion in 2015 to R74.5 billion by 2024\u2014this figure falls significantly short of the R1.5 trillion in reported turnover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post-COVID-19, growth in gambling accelerated as more individuals engaged in online betting, yet the activity still accounts for a minor share of overall household expenditure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In inflation statistics, gambling is categorised under \u201cgames of chance\u201d for household expenditure and inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, games of chance accounted for 1.3% of total household spending, up from 1.1% in 2015. The share of GGR in relation to total household spending also rose from 0.9% to 1.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it’s important to note that household spending on essential goods and services has also increased over this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While spending on gambling, particularly online betting, has risen significantly in recent years, its overall impact on total household spending remains relatively small compared to essential goods and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: SARB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How much households spent in 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Growth in real final consumption expenditure by households accelerated to 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by an increase in real disposable income and a boost in consumer confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spending on semi-durable goods and services rose more rapidly during this period, while spending on durable and non-durable goods slowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accompanying the rise in consumer spending, household debt rose further in the fourth quarter of 2025, with growth across most categories of household credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, household debt as a percentage of nominal disposable income increased from 61.5% in the third quarter to 61.8% in the fourth quarter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the cost of servicing debt as a proportion of disposable income marginally decreased from 8.5% to 8.4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Households\u2019 net wealth continued to rise in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the increase in the market value of total assets outpacing that of total liabilities, largely due to a significant boost in share prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The domestic share market had an outstanding year in 2025, with the FTSE\/JSE All-Share Index (Alsi) achieving its best performance since 2005, soaring by 37.7%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real gross fixed capital formation grew at a slightly slower rate in the fourth quarter of 2025, primarily propelled by increased fixed capital expenditures by public corporations and private enterprises, while investment by the general government declined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of asset categories, real fixed investment in machinery and equipment, construction works, and other asset types increased in the fourth quarter, while investment in other categories decreased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, real investment spending contracted further by 2.2% in 2025, with the ratio of nominal gross fixed capital formation to nominal GDP decreasing to 13.9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total household-surveyed employment grew moderately, adding 44,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most job gains were in the formal sector, with a smaller increase in the household sector, while informal-sector employment declined sharply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, the growth rate of total employment slowed down from 0.6% in the third quarter to 0.1% in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the Reserve Bank, gambling revenue has spiked massively in South Africa over the past decade, but households aren’t spending as much as the shocking figures imply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":855928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1495,3246],"class_list":["post-855891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-gambling","tag-sars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855891","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855949,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855891\/revisions\/855949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}