{"id":860043,"date":"2026-05-30T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=860043"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:00:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:00:01","slug":"south-africans-throwing-money-into-a-black-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/860043\/south-africans-throwing-money-into-a-black-hole\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans throwing money into a black hole"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Africa\u2019s growing gambling use is sapping income that would ordinarily be flowing into groceries, entertainment and mobile phone bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders of the continent\u2019s largest companies are now warning about the harm the trend is inflicting on household budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are spending money in a black hole that could have been spent on food,\u201d said Pieter Engelbrecht, the chief executive officer of Africa\u2019s largest grocer, Shoprite Holdings Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online betting is mushrooming across Africa, with gross gaming revenue projected to reach $13.5 billion this year, more than double its 2023 level, according to data from H2 Gambling Capital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fueled by a young, fast-growing population, rising smartphone use and weak regulation, betting firms are rapidly drawing in users, leaving their customers with less money to spend on other discretionary items.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s <\/strong>Treasury called it an \u201cimportant policy concern\u201d that may need government intervention in the form of further regulation and taxation, a spokesperson told Bloomberg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As spending on online betting rises, it is contributing to financial distress among heavy users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average share of income spent on gambling doubled to 2% between 2021 and 2025, according to research by Africa\u2019s largest bank, Standard Bank, shared with Bloomberg News. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spending is highly uneven: about 7% of people spend more than 100% of their income on gambling, according to the research, relying on credit and other supplementary proceeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In South Africa, the continent\u2019s largest economy, spending on betting has risen about 50% each year over the past three years, even as overall consumer spending weakens, according to data from Absa bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise in gambling\u00a0is accompanied by<\/a>\u00a0rising borrowing \u2014 and missed loan payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absa\u2019s CEO Kenny Fihla said that gambling trends are a \u201chuge predictor\u201d of loan delinquency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe more clients become indebted, the more they gamble and the bigger the hole becomes,\u201d he said during an earnings call last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a massive problem that quite frankly, we\u2019re worried about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past few years, the loan default rate for gamblers in South Africa has been increasing four times as fast as the rate in non-gamblers, rising 2% month on month, according to data published last year by Experian and finance app Vault22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gambling has become the twelfth highest category in the country\u2019s consumer price index, just behind beer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It now represents more than half (54.5%) of spending on leisure activities like sports, movies and gym memberships, according to the state statistics agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s even affecting mobile operators, according to Africa\u2019s largest wireless carrier MTN Group Ltd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said that \u201cmuted\u201d growth on prepaid mobile in South Africa is \u201cexacerbated by the growing share of disposable income that is being spent on online gambling<\/span>,\u201d according to its\u00a02025 annual report<\/a>, published last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fashion brands are also feeling the gambling-linked squeeze, according to the CEO of retail group Woolworths Holdings Ltd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause gambling taps into the consumer\u2019s discretionary wallet, there are parts of our business that are more vulnerable,\u201d Roy Bagattini told Bloomberg News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are blowing their salaries on online gambling before they pay rent, school fees, transport,\u201d said Oscar Bishop, a recovering gambling addict and now ambassador of the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pandemic of online gambling is way, way out of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the height of his addiction, Bishop would buy \u201cless and less groceries every month,\u201d and make up excuses to his family that he needed to repair his car, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop called on better regulation, bans on advertising and a limit to how much people can spend on gambling each month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Online betting is largely regulated on a provincial level, although many offshore casinos target South Africans without a license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Betting firms are capitalising on the surge in demand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York-listed Super Group, which operates Betway and Spin, exited the US to focus on faster-growing markets across Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its revenue on the continent grew 27% in 2025, largely driven by South Africa. Momentum is building there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virgin Bet entered the market in March, and the number of sports betting licenses has climbed to 400, up 40% from the 2020\/2021 financial year, according to the trade ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Super Group and Virgin Bet declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ulrik Bengtsson, the CEO of Sunbet operator Sun International Ltd., said that although household spending on gambling has risen, it remains low relative to spending on essential goods and services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A licensed, tax-paying industry is the \u201csolution to consumer protection, not the problem,\u201d he said, contrasting his business with the \u201cthousands of offshore platforms already targeting South African consumers beyond any regulatory reach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sun International has co-founded an industry body for licensed operators to help develop better gambling regulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November, South Africa\u2019s Treasury opened a public consultation<\/a> on how an online gambling tax could help offset some of the social costs associated with problem gambling, \u201cincluding financial stress, reduced productivity, family hardship and adverse mental health outcomes,\u201d a spokesperson told Bloomberg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feedback from the public consultation will be discussed in a workshop and help shape draft national legislation for the proposed gambling tax later this year, the spokesperson added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efforts to update the country\u2019s 2004 gambling regulation for a digital age have repeatedly stalled, according to Toby Chance, a member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolitical will has been absent,\u201d he said, adding that the country was being \u201crobbed\u201d by illegal operators not paying their fair share of tax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s growing gambling use is sapping income that would ordinarily be flowing into groceries, entertainment and mobile phone bills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":860048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[22124,1913,24044],"class_list":["post-860043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-betting","tag-online-gambling","tag-sports-betting-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860043","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\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860050,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860043\/revisions\/860050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}