SARGF supports G20 women’s protest, highlights link between problem gambling and abuse
According to SARGF, up to half of women with partners struggling with gambling addiction experience domestic abuse.
South Africa.- The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF) has expressed its support for the ongoing G20 women’s protest against gender-based violence, citing research that highlights problem gambling as an often-overlooked contributor to abuse in households.
According to SARGF, up to half of women with partners struggling with gambling addiction experience domestic abuse, exposing a hidden contributor to South Africa’s gender-based violence crisis that warrants urgent attention, according to advocacy groups.
The foundation also found that gambling debt often leads to controlling behaviour over household money, which can escalate into emotional, financia, and physical violence. The pathway from gambling addiction to domestic abuse follows a recognisable pattern. Partners who lose money gambling often seize control of household finances to hide debts or fund further betting.
This economic abuse is characterised by controlling access to finances, demanding an account of every purchase and withholding funds for basic needs, leading to dependency and isolation. When partners question missing money or resist financial control, the abuse frequently turns physical.
Problem gambling affects roughly 3 per cent of South African adults overall, but the rate rises to 7 per cent in poorer communities where informal betting is widespread. Since 2004, the SARGF has treated more than 20,000 people, many of whom first sought help because of family conflict rather than gambling itself.
The foundation’s research, based on surveys conducted in Gauteng townships, found that women in relationships with problem gamblers experienced not only financial abuse but also elevated rates of psychological manipulation, threats and physical violence.
SARGF’s findings emerge amid South Africa’s worsening gender-based violence emergency. Police recorded more than 5,500 murders of women and 1,600 murders of children in the 2024-25 financial year, meaning a woman is killed every two and a half hours. Conviction rates for rape remain at roughly one in nine reported cases.
Gambling support groups and women’s advocates agree that the research demands an integrated response, where gambling treatment programmes screen for domestic abuse, and GBV services recognise problem gambling as a potential driver of violence.
