Online betting explodes

Not surprising, especially if one watches TV.

The growth of online betting in South Africa has been astronomical since the Covid pandemic. In that year, revenue (more technically, gross gambling revenue) at traditional casinos nearly halved to R10 billion (from R19 billion). It has steadily recovered since then, and last year it neared R17.5 billion. But the days of growth at casinos are long gone.

Revenue in the five years between 2015 and 2019 barely moved (from R17.8 billion to R18.8 billion). Over that same period, the share of the market held by betting operators (racing, physical bookmakers and online) doubled from R4 billion to R8 billion. This saw its share increase from 17% to 27%.

Lockdown changed everything when horseracing ceased and severe limitations were placed on physical casinos (number of people as well as trading times).

The night-time curfew (which at its most extreme began at 9pm) was particularly damaging.

Betting operators overtook casinos in 2020-21 and there's been no looking back.

By 2021, betting (about R14 billion) was already marginally bigger than casinos (about R13 billion).