South Africa’s R420 billion gamble

Money placed on sports bets in South Africa has skyrocketed over the past several years, reaching R420 billion in 2023. At the end of FY2022/23, R815.1 billion was wagered in the entire South African gambling industry—more than the budgets of the peace and security, health, and community development clusters combined.

The majority of this stems from betting, which involves placing a wager through a bookmaker on the outcome of a specific event, usually a sports event, which can be done both in person or online.

Sports betting is a regulated form of gambling in South Africa, with legal bookkeepers and betting agencies able to operate as long as they are licensed.

According to the National Gambling Board’s 2022/23 national gambling statistics, sports betting has significantly grown its share of the gambling industry in South Africa over the past decade, from under 10% in 2009/10 to over half in 2022/23.

An analysis by The Outlier shows that approximately R418 billion of wagers in South African gambling stemmed from sports betting in 2022/23.

The R418 billion worth of bets last year is an 80% increase from the R233 billion wagered in 2021/22 and a 1167% increase from the approximately R33 billion wagered in 2016/17.

However, it is important to note that the total value of bets is significantly higher than overall revenue because these do not include payouts, and winnings are often ‘recycled’ to place further bets.

When looking at revenue, the National Gambling Board reported R47.17 billion of gross gambling revenue for 2022/23, with 50.3% (R23.75 billion) coming from betting.

From this R47.17 billion in revenue, just over 27% came from Gauteng, nearly 26% from the Western Cape, and just over 18% came from Mpumalanga.

In South Africa, about 80% of sports betting is done online, with wagers made with just a couple of clicks on a computer or mobile device.

Well-known gambling companies such as Betway and Hollywoodbets dominate online betting in the country, as well as advertising and sports sponsorship.

There are various reasons given for the boom in sports betting in the country.

“One of the biggest factors in the growth of sports betting is simply increased awareness and visibility,”

– wrote Head of Yield at Sportingbet, Retief Uys.

Sports betting companies now advertise heavily during big sporting events, sponsor major teams and tournaments and even hold the naming rights for certain stadiums.

Additionally, Uys said that the advancement of technology (where the majority of betting takes place) has also helped spread awareness around sports betting has also made it more accessible and convenient to participate in.

The boom in South Africa’s betting scene has meant that more players are looking to capitalise off this ‘gold rush’.

Notably, the newcomer SuperSportBet is the result of a partnership between Nigerian betting company KingMakers and MultiChoice, which launched in January and specifically targets sports fans.

This comes as MultiChoice notes that around 77% of DStv subscribers are said to be active betters or engage in match predictions – hence why they want to be their first point of reference in this regard.

KingMakers said that Africa is the fastest-growing gambling market in the world. Africa’s Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) is expected to rise by 17% by 2027, beating Latin America and Asia and the Middle East, which are set to see growth of 13% and 7%, respectively.

Barrie Swart, the general manager of SuperSportBet, said that:

“Sports betting is quickly growing to be a game-changer in the country and on the continent.”

“SuperSportBet will, with its exciting features and its association to a rich brand like SuperSport, set itself apart in a competitive and saturated market,” – he added.

Source: businesstech.co.za

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