Bookmakers Can't Offer Casino Games in South Africa - What's Going On?

We’ve had a few questions lately about bookmakers that also show casino games on their site. Slots, roulette, live tables, that kind of thing.

To keep it simple: South African bookmakers are not allowed to offer casino games under a betting licence. A recent court ruling confirmed this again.

Some bookmakers tried to get around the rules by calling casino games “fixed-odds bets”. The court didn’t accept that. Sports betting and casino games are treated as two different products, with different licences.

What changes for players?

For most players, not much. This ruling is aimed at operators, not individuals. What you may notice is that some local bookmakers have removed their casino sections or stopped promoting them.

If a bookmaker is still offering slots or roulette under a sports betting licence, we’d be careful.

How this fits with our listings

We list both locally regulated casinos and offshore casinos that accept South African players.

Local operators need the right licence for casino games. Offshore casinos operate under international licences and don’t rely on a South African bookmaker licence to offer casino products.

Either way, we judge them the same way: licence, payouts, bonus rules, and player feedback.

Our take

This clears up a grey area that’s been around for a while. Bookmakers are for betting. Casinos are for casino games. Mixing the two only caused confusion.

If anything changes at national level, we’ll update this page. Until then, that’s the line regulators are drawing.