Sports betting revenue leads the way in South Africa

Revenue was 25.7% higher than ZAR47.12bn in 2022-23, the existing yearly record for South Africa. The latest report from the country’s National Gambling Board covers the 12 months to 31 March 2024.

Sports betting leads the way in South Africa

Sports betting was again by far the largest source of revenue, generating ZAR35.91bn, or 60.5%, of all revenue. This is 51.2% more than in the previous year.

Of this, ZAR28.97bn was revenue from online betting, with the vertical accounting for 49% of overall revenue in 2023-24. Online sports betting is currently only legal in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West provinces.

Retail betting revenue for the year amounted to ZAR6.94bn, accounting for 19% of all betting revenue or 11.7% of total market revenue.

Revenue flat across other gambling types

The growth seen in the sports betting sector was not replicated elsewhere.

Casino was the next largest source of revenue at ZAR17.36bn, although this remained largely flat at 0.1% higher than in the previous year.

Limited payout machines (LPMs) – gambling machines with a restricted bet and prize – drew ZAR4.15bn in revenue, down 1.9% year-on-year. The remaining ZAR1.89bn in revenue came from bingo, a 2.4% year-on-year rise.

Player spend reaches record ZAR1.14tn

Looking now to how much consumers wagered, this amounted to ZAR1.14tn in the 2023-24 financial year, surpassing last year’s existing record of ZAR815.11bn by 40.2%.

Sports betting wagers reached ZAR761.26bn, accounting for 66.6% of total wagers. Unlike revenue, the regulator did not break this down across retail and online.

Players spent ZAR297.42bn gambling at casinos, representing 26% of all wagers in 2023-24. A further ZAR53.74bn was wagered through LPMs, or 4.7% of all bets, while bingo accounted for the remaining 2.6% (ZAR30.27bn).

Western Cape benefits from online betting

Breaking down the market by province, Western Cape generated the most gambling revenue at ZAR18.79bn. This came from ZAR353.19bn in players bets, the second highest provincial total in 2022-23. Western Cape is only one of a handful of provinces that allows legal online sports betting.

Gauteng, the most populous region of South Africa, placed second with ZAR13.10bn in total revenue from ZAR173.7bn in bets. Mpumalanga drew the most wagers at ZAR359.34bn but ranked third in revenue terms on ZAR12.98bn.

As for tax, South Africa generated ZAR4.84bn during the 12-month period. Of this, 50%, or ZAR2.41bn, came from sports betting, including ZAR889m from online wagering.