Official languages: Afrikaans, English
Population: 47,900,000
Currency: South African Rand (ZAR)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = ZAR
1 GBP = ZAR
1 USD = ZAR

Quick links
Online gambling sites in South Africa
Online casinos in South Africa
Online poker sites in South Africa
Online sportsbooks in South Africa
Online bingo in South Africa
Mobile casinos in South Africa
South Africa gambling news

Casinos in South Africa
Casinos in South Africa were illegal for many years. The Gambling Act of 1965 banned all forms of gambling in South Africa except for horse racing. Interestingly, casinos started to re-emerge in the 1970s, built in special areas called Homelands, where native South Africans lived. The Homelands had different South African gambling laws than the rest of the country. In 1996 the South African government decided to legalize and regulate casinos in South Africa, along with sports betting, bingo and poker in order to fight against illegal gambling in the country.

Today, there are 40 legal South African casinos governed by the National Gambling Act of 2004. The casinos are located in all nine South African provinces and with a 40% tax rate, provide a significant portion of the country's revenues. Almost half of all South African casino revenue comes from seven casinos in the Gauteng Province, where Johannesburg is located. Combined, these seven casinos offer 314 tables and 8700 machines. The Gauteng casinos draw nearly 25 million visitors each year.

Online Casinos in South Africa
There are no legal online casinos in South Africa.For many years to this day, the government of South Africa fought hard against online gambling. South African gambling regulators tried all tactics to prevent residents from gambling - from blocking money transfers to filtering websites to checking bank statements. In July 2008, the National Gambling Amendment Bill was drafted but has since stalled and has never yet been brought up for a vote. As of late 2011, the South African Supreme Court ruled that all forms of online gambling are illegal in the country until the bill is finally signed into law.

While there are no licensed internet casinos in South Africa yet, they will be coming once the the bill is signed in early 2012. Until they arrive, players can just use foreign based South African online casinos. Through the use of foreign payment processors it is quite simple to gamble online at casinos hosted in other countries which happily accept South African players. Until the government provides internet gambling licenses, and proper South African online casinos begin to open in a regulated market, foreign sites provide players with all the facilities to play online casinos in South Africa .