Although a number of growing markets call Africa home, the continent’s third-largest economy and largest betting market are located at the southern end of the continent.
Continue reading to learn why South Africa is a top location for online sportsbook providers and how company owners can start their ventures.
It’s difficult to find a nation where sports betting isn’t widely accepted. Pitting their instincts against bookmakers’ odds is a popular way for sports fans around the world to increase the enjoyment of watching a game or match. As our society grows and becomes increasingly tech-centric, sports betting is also going online.
Operators worry about regulations in every market. Online sportsbooks have a significant legal advantage over online casinos since more nations forbid online casino gambling but permit sports betting more than the other way around. An efficient online sportsbook could be a reliable source of income with the correct merchandise, marketing tactics, and (probably most crucially) odds.
Investors and operators in the sector are paying attention to emerging markets in Africa. While operators expand throughout the remainder of the continent into bet-loving nations like Kenya and Nigeria, the Republic of South Africa has traditionally been recognized as a significant, booming market that might offer them a strong foundation on which to operate.
Despite the fact that practically all kinds of gambling were outlawed in the nation a few decades ago, it now boasts a thriving gambling industry that is mostly supported by a thriving land-based casino industry and a sizable and quickly expanding sports betting sector. In South Africa, obtaining a bookmaker's license seems like a decent idea every day.
The Betting Sector in South Africa
The GDP of South Africa is the third highest on the continent, after that of Nigeria and fellow sports-wagering mecca Egypt. Given the nation’s extensive love of sports, it should come as no surprise that South Africa is also Africa’s largest gambling market; by 2023, the national GGR there is predicted to surpass $2.3 billion.
The category of land-based casinos continues to produce the bulk of this revenue. Yet, there has been a long-term decline in gaming in land-based casinos. Even before the global coronavirus outbreak, which saw South Africa go through some of the harshest lockdown measures ever, the share of GGR produced by land-based casinos in South Africa had been steadily declining.
Land-based casinos produced 85% of the nation’s gambling revenues in the fiscal year 2009–2010 compared to just 56% in 2019–2020.Despite the fact that this industry continues to be the largest source of revenue for the entire nation, a National Gambling Board annual report blamed the sharp decline on market saturation.
South African gamblers are either becoming more numerous or discovering new sources of disposable cash whereas industry for the land-based casino gaming has been shrinking. In 2009–2010, wagering on sports and horse races contributed 9.9% to the national GGR. A decade later, that percentage has increased to 26.8%.
Why are there more and more sports betting done online? Much of the remainder of Africa is seeing a similar situation: while Internet adoption may be weaker than in other parts of the world, smartphone adoption reached 90% in 2019. The more convenient betting becomes, the more likely it’s that sports fans will do so.
Bingo and slot machines with restricted payouts have seen gradually rising revenue, although not to the comparable extent as sports betting. Whatever the cause, the industry for sports betting is expanding quickly and making ever-increasing profits. It’s guaranteed that an increasing number of sports gambling activities will be done online in 2023, just like everything else.
Expert forecasts, such as annual studies on the National Gambling Board’s website, indicate a persistent decline in the casino gaming industry but continuing growth in the sports betting industry.
How Is This Divided by Provinces?
There are nine provinces in the South African Republic, and each of them has a regulatory body in charge of policing gaming and betting. The National Gaming Board is in charge of overseeing gambling on a federal level. The national GGR is distributed throughout the nine provinces of the nation, although not fairly.
The Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng are the three provinces with the highest gaming income totals. This order doesn’t reflect reality.
Thanks to a higher concentration of consumers with spending power, the Western Cape has the second-highest GGR, not the best. The Western Cape has the second-largest provincial GDP in the nation despite only being the fourth-largest province in terms of population (with slightly over seven million persons, as opposed to Gauteng’s population of approximately 15.5 million). Sportsbook operators frequently go to the Western Cape, where several of them hold licenses from the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board.
It’s a good bet that many elements of your company will depend on the province in which it operates. Compared to regions where gamblers have less purchasing power, provinces with higher GDP per capita, like the Western Cape, will likely experience larger average bets but maybe lower betting frequency.
In South Africa, How Do You Obtain a Sportsbook License?
The nine provinces that make up the nation each have their own gambling and betting oversight organization.
These are the nine authorities:
• Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board
• Gauteng Gambling Board
• KwaZulu-Natal Gambling and Racing Board
• Free State Gambling and Racing Board
• Mpumalanga Gambling Board
• Limpopo Gambling Board
• Northern Cape Gambling Board
• Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board
• North West Gambling Board
Each province will have its own application procedure, requirements list, and documentation to complete. New operators will seek permission to operate from the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board due to the province’s large concentration of wealth.
The following forms are only a sample of what you could need to submit for a WCGRB license:
• Additional key employee license
• Business Entity Disclosure form
• Application form for a key employee license
• Bookmaker premises license application form
• Application by the license holder for approval of procurement of financial interest
• Personal history disclosure
Operators used to pay hefty licensing costs in the European market, like €25,000 for a standalone license from the Malta Gaming Authority, may find the licensing costs in South Africa to be slightly more reasonable. The Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board’s license application fees are included in the following table.
What Sports Do Bettors in South Africa Wager On?
Naturally, South African sports gamblers enjoy placing wagers on both domestic and foreign games, especially European football. But rugby, notably the “Springboks”, South Africa’s national rugby side, is also a huge interest among the nation’s sports bettors.
Since horse racing was once the only form of wagering available in the nation, it has a long history there. Golf and cricket are two sports that South African bettors like to wager on, and the country’s sportsmen are both fierce competitors on an international stage in these sports.
What Are the Well-known Brands in Sports Betting in South Africa?
Numerous reputable local and international sportsbook businesses, including Betway,Bet.co.za,Hollywoodbets, and Supabetshave licenses to operate in South Africa, frequently in the Western Cape.
While Phumelela offers horserace betting in Mpumalanga,Gauteng, Limpopo, the Northern Cape,the Free State,the North West, Western Cape, and the Eastern Cape, Gold Circle is the totalizer operator in KwaZulu-Natal (on behalf of Kenilworth Racing Trust).
But, no worries, the full list of bookmakers in South Africa exists.
What Other Options Do You Have for Your Clients?
The world of online sports betting has evolved to be incredibly versatile and flexible. Esportsand virtual sports have brought gamblers year-round, round-the-clock betting alternatives.
During the global coronavirus epidemic, genuine sporting events were canceled or postponed, but virtual sports operators enjoyed a sharp rise in business as action-starved bettors flocked to wager on their sporting events’ simulations.
What Does an Online Sportsbook Require?
You can start working on the technical aspects of your online betting platform while the license is being handled. The need for good platform software can’t be overstated. This includes a robust backend that operates without hiccups even under heavy traffic loads and a frontend that’s tailored to the preferences (and language) of your target audience. There are 11 official languages in South Africa, but if you can only offer English and Afrikaans, you’ll reach the greatest number of people. Better still if you’re able to localize your webpage in ZuluandKhosa.
Along with reporting features that track, categorize, and evaluate your company’s success so you can keep track of daily operations, a decent platform will also include a bonus module to improve player retention.
Naturally, an online gaming site would be worthless without content, in this instance, betting options. You’ll need real-time data feeds encompassing a range of sports disciplines in order to set odds and provide players with the current information they’ve come to expect. As many bettors want to make many wagers at once, there should always be plenty of events for gamblers to wager on.
When it pertains to payment processing, players in different locations have distinct needs. While it’s always a good idea for online sportsbooks to enable both deposits and withdrawals in the national currency of their area of operation, in this case, the South African Rand (ZAR), it’s also not a terrible idea to accept Bitcoin or other widespread cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, given how popular cryptos are right now.
Along with supporting several currencies, it’s crucial to incorporate a variety of alternative payment options. Players in many areas, particularly African markets, lack access to traditional financial institutions and instead use their cell carriers or other options, such as e-wallets, to make payments. You can ensure that no player is turned away due to their inability to make a deposit by integrating all of these payment mechanisms and more.
In addition to having a user-friendly and practical operating system, our sportsbook also has more than 100 payment system providers, a CRM system for retaining players, and a CMS system for managing content and performance. Our sportsbook software enables you to provide your players with 24/7 betting on the sports of their choice with odds they’ll be itching to try and beat. It also features a bespoke design, customizable bonus offers, individualized settings, and a live sports data feed API with a variety of sports, events, bets, and odds, and a range of sports, bets, and odds.
Get in touch with us to see how we can assist you if you’re interested in launching an online bookmaker in South Africa or any other jurisdiction.
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