South Africa proposes 20% tax on online gambling revenue
The 20 per cent national tax, if passed, would be the biggest change to South Africa’s gambling rules in two decades.
South Africa.- South Africa’s National Treasury has released a plan for a new 20 per cent tax on gross gambling revenue from online betting and interactive games.
The proposal, published in a 24-page discussion paper titled: “The Case for a National Online Gambling Tax”, would add the levy on top of existing provincial taxes of 6-9 per cent, pushing the total tax load for operators to between 26 per cent and 29 per cent.
The tax would apply to licensed South African bookmakers and, once interactive gambling is finally regulated, to online casino and slots operators.
The gambling industry in South Africa has experienced rapid growth. Total bets placed in 2024/25 reached R1.5trn (€78.9bn), a rise of 31.3 per cent in one year. Online platforms now handle most sports betting, and the share of adults who gamble has climbed from 30.6 per cent in 2017 to 65.7 per cent in 2023. In the 2024/25 financial year, online betting alone produced R44.46bn (€2.34bn) of the country’s total betting revenue of R51.97bn (€2.73bn).
However, Treasury officials claim the primary goal is to protect people, not to generate revenue. As stated in the paper: “The main objective of the reform would not be to raise further revenue, but rather to discourage problem and pathological gambling and their ill effects.” The report identifies young adults aged 25-34 as the biggest gamblers and notes the severe personal costs, including debt, broken relationships, mental health issues and suicide in extreme instances.
The fiscal authority projects that the new tax could bring in more than R10bn (€526m) a year, emphasising that any extra funds would help pay for treatment and prevention programmes.
South Africa currently spends R40m (€2.1m) annually on problem gambling treatment through the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP) and related initiatives under the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF). The NGRP, which operates a 24/7 helpline, reported a 623 per cent surge in calls concerning problem gambling in the past year.
South Africa’s gambling laws have not kept pace with mobile phones and apps. Interactive casino-style games remain illegal under the 2004 National Gambling Act, while a 2008 amendment that would have legalised and regulated them has never been put into force. This gap has left licensed local operators at a disadvantage against offshore sites that accept South African players.
If the tax is approved, the South African Revenue Service would collect it directly from operators. The department is now asking for written comments from the public and the industry before drafting legislation. The consultation period is open, with no closing date yet announced. Once comments are reviewed, the Treasury will decide whether to take a bill to Parliament. If passed, the 20 per cent national tax would be the biggest change to South Africa’s gambling rules in two decades.
However, industry experts have raised concerns that a higher tax rate could push players to unlicensed foreign sites. Several point to Kenya, where a sharp increase in taxes in 2018-2019, including a 20 per cent withholding tax on winnings, led major operators such as SportPesa and Betin to suspend operations in the country. The country has since lowered some levies, with the most recent cut being a decrease in excise duty on betting stakes from 15 per cent to 5 per cent in July 2025.
