As a boom in online gambling across Africa gathers pace, governments are hiking taxes to contain addiction risks and fill depleted state coffers. In by far the biggest market, South Africa, the industry is pushing back.

Once a niche activity, gambling has exploded across the continent as a result of easily available online betting accounts.

South Africa’s gambling industry regulator, the National Gambling Board, estimates that two-thirds of adults engage in online gambling, a sharp rise from 30% in 2017.

The government has proposed a national 20% tax on online gambling profits, which it says would more than double revenues from the sector to R10-billion annually from R4.8-billion currently.

The draft bill will be presented to lawmakers this year and the final tax proposal introduced in February 2027, according to national treasury. Several political parties represented in parliament have expressed support for the tax.

Betting firms are lobbying hard against it, arguing that the tax would not curb problem gambling but instead push it to underground sites which they say would proliferate without the extra burden of the levies.

Local gambling firm Hollywoodbets, one of the largest in the country, has not publicly commented on the tax proposal, while New York-listed Betway said it would speak through the industry body, the South African Bookmakers’ Association.

Distress calls

Distress calls to a national helpline for gambling addicts have surged by more than two-thirds over the past year, Sibongile Simelane-Quntana, executive director of the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation, said in an interview.

The foundation acts as a national crisis centre for problem gamblers and treated more than 4 600 people for addiction last year, up from 2 600 in 2024.

Simelane-Quntana says most South Africans play out of desperation more than entertainment. “We’re trying to gamble ourselves to prosperity,” she said.

Read: Crackdown on students gambling away Nsfas money online

South African punters wagered a record R1.5-trillion in the 2024/2025 financial year, statistics from the National Gambling Board show.

The South African government in a November 2025 paper argued that the proposed tax would reduce the proliferation of online gambling activity and disincentivise problem gambling.

But in a formal submission to the treasury, the South African Bookmakers’ Association, which represents about a quarter of the country’s 400 bookmakers, said it would be more effective to crack down on illegal gambling sites.

Currently gambling taxes are set by provincial authorities and average between 6% and 9%. The new national tax would increase total tax rates to up to 29%, national treasury said.

Sean Coleman, CEO of the South African Bookmakers’ Association, argues the total tax from a mix of provincial, value-added and national taxes and the new levy would be 38.5% of profits.

Read: Free Market Foundation slams treasury’s proposed gambling tax

The association is presenting a case to the government that its proposal would drive players to illegal sites, as legally registered companies could become more expensive and the winnings less attractive to players.

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