{"id":6954,"date":"2025-08-20T06:52:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T09:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=6954"},"modified":"2026-04-19T14:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:40:29","slug":"nwgb-leads-initiative-to-prevent-underage-gaming-in-potchefstroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/nwgb-leads-initiative-to-prevent-underage-gaming-in-potchefstroom","title":{"rendered":"NWGB leads initiative to prevent underage gaming in Potchefstroom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With gambling continuing to grow across the country, officials believe community outreach events can reduce gambling harms and inspire more schools to join the fight against underage gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Africa.- On August 17, 2025<\/strong>, the North West Gambling Board (NWGB) <\/strong>led a joint campaign at Sarafina Secondary School in Potchefstroom<\/strong> aimed at empowering students to make informed choices. The event, tagged \u201cBuilding Better Communities\u201d, <\/strong>was backed by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA)<\/strong>, the Department of Social Development, Sports, Arts and Culture, and the South African Police Service (SAPS)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the collective effort aimed to restore moral values and respect in schools, the NWGB took the opportunity to educate students about the risks of underage gaming. The NWGB representative reminded attendees that gambling is illegal for anyone under 18<\/strong> and mentioned the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF)\u2019<\/strong>s free treatment and counselling services available at their disposal, including family counselling and minor intervention.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speakers urged learners to restrict harmful behaviours and not let financial and social pressures influence their decisions. The Principal of Sarafina Secondary School thanked the organisers for the initiative and highlighted the school’s newness and aspirations to excel in both behaviour and academics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With gambling continuing to grow across the country, officials believe community outreach events like this can reduce gambling harms and inspire more schools to join the fight against underage gambling. Last week, the NWGB partnered with the Liquor Regulations Unit<\/strong> to conduct a joint outreach in Rustenburg<\/a> on responsible gambling and safe liquor practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from the National Gambling Board\u2019s 2023\/24 report <\/strong>shows that gambling-related problems have risen significantly in South Africa, with 31 per cent <\/strong>of people now facing issues compared to 5.8 per cent in 2017<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> NWGB educates Makapanstad residents on dangers of illegal gambling<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With gambling continuing to grow across the country, officials believe community outreach events can reduce gambling harms and inspire more schools to join the fight against underage gambling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":6956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The North West Gambling Board (NWGB) conducted a joint campaign at Sarafina Secondary School in Potchefstroom, South Africa, to educate students on underage gambling risks and promote responsible choices. This initiative, supported by multiple government departments, aims to combat rising gambling-related problems, with national data indicating a significant increase in affected individuals since 2017. The NWGB emphasizes community outreach as a critical strategy for harm reduction and regulatory compliance.","focusai_entities":"North West Gambling Board (NWGB), Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Department of Social Development, Sports, Arts and Culture, South African Police Service (SAPS), Sarafina Secondary School, South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF), National Gambling Board","focusai_location":"South Africa, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.8), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact","query":"What specific regulatory changes or enhanced compliance mandates are anticipated for licensed operators in South Africa given the significant increase in problem gambling rates and the NWGB's intensified outreach?"},{"label":"Funding Harm Reduction","query":"How will the North West Gambling Board and its partner agencies fund and scale these community outreach and harm reduction initiatives to address the 31% problem gambling prevalence rate across South Africa?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60023,60011],"tags":[1593],"class_list":["post-6954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-africa","tag-responsible-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6954"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7001,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954\/revisions\/7001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}