Gambling licensing authorities in South Africa

The National Gambling Board does not issue licences

Two levels of government regulate gambling. Oversight belongs to the National Gambling Board, which keeps standards consistent across the country, while the nine provincial boards issue the licences.

Each provincial board has exclusive authority inside its own province. It investigates applicants, issues licences, inspects licensees and enforces the rules. The national board checks how well each province does that work, and issues nothing itself.

Readers often mistake three other bodies for regulators. Lotteries and sports pools fall to the National Lotteries Commission under the Lotteries Act 57 of 1997, which works nationally and separately from all nine boards.

The Casino Association of South Africa and the South African Bookmakers' Association are industry groups. Neither issues licences.

Every gambling licence belongs to one province

Gambling laws in South Africa differ from province to province. Each has its own act, its own board and its own rules. The board named on an operator's site is the one that matters to you, whichever province you live in.

Find the licence number in the footer, then use the list below to identify which board issued it.

Last verified: September 2026

1. Eastern Cape Gambling Board

Eastern Cape Gambling Board licenses four casinos, alongside bookmakers, bingo halls, racecourses and pub machines. It also still issues new bookmaker licences, which only two other provinces do. The board lists its licensees by type, so you can check casinos and bookmakers separately.

• Address: Quenera Office Park, Beacon Bay, East London
• Contact: 043 702 8300, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting under a bookmaker licence

2. Free State Gambling, Liquor and Tourism Authority

Free State Gambling, Liquor and Tourism Authority took its current form in 2017, when a merger brought the three functions under one roof. Gambling licences still come under the province's 2010 Act. Questions go to the CEO's office, so a reply may take longer than it would elsewhere.

• Address: Mansion Building, 85 Henry Street, Bloemfontein Central, Bloemfontein 9300
• Contact: 051 404 0300, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting under a bookmaker licence

3. Gauteng Gambling Board

Gauteng Gambling Board licenses casinos, bookmakers, bingo and pub machines under an act passed in 1995, the oldest of the nine. Bookmakers here may only take bets on sport, a narrower limit than most provinces set, and that wording decided the 2025 roulette case. The board says in its own annual report that the rule leaves it behind other provinces.

• Address: 125 Corlett Drive, Johannesburg 2018
• Contact: 011 581 4800, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting only. Casino games need a casino licence, which the Supreme Court of Appeal confirmed in October 2025

4. KwaZulu-Natal Economic Regulatory Authority

KwaZulu-Natal Economic Regulatory Authority took over from the old gaming and betting board in May 2024, and now covers gambling and liquor together. Licences still come under the 2010 Act. Two offices serve the province.

• Addresses: 1 George MacFarlane Lane, Wembley, Pietermaritzburg, and 22 Dorothy Nyembe Street, Durban
• Contact: 033 345 2714 or 031 302 0600, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting under a bookmaker licence

5. Limpopo Gambling Board

Limpopo Gambling Board licenses casinos, bookmakers, bingo and pub machines under the newest of the nine acts, in force since 2013. Emails and calls go to the CEO's office, with no separate route for complaints.

• Address: 8 Hans van Rensburg Street, Polokwane 0700
• Contact: 015 230 2300, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting under a bookmaker licence

6. Mpumalanga Economic Regulator

Mpumalanga Economic Regulator handles gambling and liquor in one body. Like the Western Cape, it lets bookmakers offer more than sport, and many of the casino games South Africans play online come through Mpumalanga licences. Offices are open on weekdays from 8 am to 4.30 pm.

• Address: MER Building, First Avenue, White River 1240
• Contact: 013 750 8000, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting and casino games under a bookmaker licence

7. North West Gambling Board

North West Gambling Board licenses casinos, bookmakers, bingo and pub machines under the province's 2001 act. WhatsApp reaches it, the only one of the nine offering that, which makes a first question easy to ask. Emails still go to the CEO's office.

• Address: 4059 Joules Street, Mafikeng Industrial Site 2745
• Contact: 018 384 3215, WhatsApp 072 334 2468, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting under a bookmaker licence

8. Northern Cape Gambling Board

Northern Cape Gambling Board oversees the smallest gambling market of the nine, licensing casinos, bookmakers, bingo and pub machines. New bookmaker licences remain open to applicants here. Questions go to one number, since the board keeps no separate complaints desk.

• Address: 31 MacDougall Street, Monument Heights, Kimberley 8301
• Contact: 081 761 9101, [email protected]
• What it allows online: sports betting under a bookmaker licence

9. Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board

Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board licenses casinos, bookmakers, bingo, pub machines and horse racing in the province. On what a bookmaker may offer, it takes a wider view than the rest. So the casino games South Africans play online mostly come from a Western Cape operator.

• Address: 24 Fairway Close, Golf Course, Cape Town 7500
• Contact: 021 480 7400, [email protected] for disputes, [email protected] for self-exclusion, [email protected] for anything else
• What it allows online: most of any board, including casino games under a bookmaker licence. It kept that position after the 2025 court ruling

Licence types set what an operator may offer

South African law splits gambling into separate modes, and each licence covers one of them. That one point explains most of what follows.

Only the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape boards still issue new bookmaker licences. In the other six provinces, anyone wanting a licence has to buy one from an existing holder.

Boards advertise applications so the public can object, some hold hearings, and the process takes five to twelve months.

How to check if a licence is real

Every licensed operator must display its licence number. You can check one in about two minutes.

1. Find the licence number in the site footer, usually next to the board's name
2. Open the National Gambling Board's verified operators list, which covers all nine provinces and is updated regularly
3. Search for the operator name or the licence number
4. Check that the province matches the board named on the site
5. Check that the licence type matches what the site is offering you

Step five catches the most problems. Licence numbers include a code for the mode, so a bookmaker number on a site running casino games is worth a second look.

You can also check with the board itself, since each one keeps a register of the licences it has issued. The National Gambling Board is the faster route because one list covers the whole country.

Where to take a complaint

Complaints go to the operator first, then to the board that issued its licence. The National Gambling Board is not a complaints body for players.

Start with the operator's own complaints process and keep a record of what you send and when. If that fails, contact the provincial board named on the operator's site. Boards can investigate licensees, impose penalties and, in serious cases, suspend or cancel a licence.

Boards cannot order an operator to pay you. They enforce licence conditions, and recovering money is a separate matter. For smaller amounts, a magistrate's court is usually the practical route.

For illegal or unlicensed operators, you can report to the National Gambling Board using the email [email protected] or via a direct call to 0870782897. If gambling itself has become the problem, self-exclusion goes through the boards too.

Roulette is legal in one province and not another

In October 2025, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled against bookmakers offering roulette in Gauteng. They may not take bets on it unless they also hold a casino licence. Roulette counts as a casino game, and a bookmaker licence does not stretch that far.

Supabets had been taking bets on roulette wheels filmed live in Lithuania, using software the Gauteng board itself had approved. The Casino Association complained. Almost ten months later the board ruled the setup lawful, and the courts later overturned it.

One line in the judgment matters more than the result. Each province writes its own gambling policy and sets its own licence rules, the court confirmed. Provinces are meant to differ.

So a game can be legal in one province and blocked in the next. Gauteng's own board admits as much. Its 2024/25 annual report says the province's act limits bookmakers more than other provinces do, leaving it behind.

Where this goes next is unclear. The National Gambling Board has written to all nine boards, saying the ruling binds bookmakers everywhere. Both the Western Cape board and the bookmakers' association disagree, arguing it only covers Gauteng's own act.

Offshore licences and South African players

Plenty of gambling sites reaching South African players hold a licence from Curaçao, Malta or Kahnawake instead of a provincial one. Those licences are real, and Curaçao tightened its rules considerably in 2024. They protect you in a different way, and not under South African law.

Provincial boards will not take a complaint about an offshore site. Its licence comes from another country, which puts the operator outside their authority and leaves them no way to help you.

Section 11 of the National Gambling Act also makes the person gambling liable, not only the operator, when the gambling is unlicensed here.

South Africa does not block gambling websites, but exchange control rules mean banks and the Reserve Bank sometimes block payments to and from foreign operators, and incoming funds have been seized.

What changes next

Online gambling laws in South Africa have not kept up with the market. Casino games played online have no licensing route of their own. The National Gambling Amendment Act of 2008 would have created one, but it was never brought into force.

The Remote Gambling Bill, introduced in 2024, would set up national licensing for online gambling. Parliament has yet to publish a timetable for it, and the South African gambling market has grown considerably since it was tabled.

Until that bill or another one passes, the provincial system stays as it is, and the province, on an operator's licence, keeps deciding what that operator may offer.

Last verified: September 2026.
Board names, contact details and licence information are re-checked against each authority's own website at every update.