Along with many other sectors, the South African gambling industry has endured tough business conditions over the last 12-18 months. While there are vital signs of recovery, Gauteng Gambling Board CEO Steven Ngubeni believes the entire sector needs to modernise to avoid similar disruptions in the future.
A big part of modernising the iGaming industry in South Africa would be to address archaic legislation of the industry. Local online casino games are technically illegal, which means to play a casino game, someone would either need to go to a physical casino or play on a foreign site licensed to operate in the country.
Even though South African online casinos are not legal, there are many international online casino sites in South Africa, such as Europa Casino and Spin247, that are legal and trusted in the country. And Ngubeni is adamant it is time to open the market up to local operators as well.
Part of his reasoning stems from the fact that gambling revenue declined by up to 90% during the Rainbow Nation’s hard lockdown for six months in 2020 as Limited Payout Machines, physical casinos, and Bingo halls were closed to the public so they could not generate any money.
On the other hand, online sports betting saw tremendous growth and all of that money was lost to overseas operators with a presence in South Africa. “Covid-19 has shown us that our regulatory framework, policy and laws were nothing but a limitation for business [to] survive disruptions,” Ngubeni said, according to the Mail & Guardian.
The troubling period, according to Ngubeni, proved the robust nature of the gambling industry as there were very few retrenchments in the sector even when times were at the worst, and not a single license holder closed operations during that time. This proves it is an industry with a ton of potential and one worth focusing on to thrive.
The second element of the modernisation process is for the industry to embrace technology to get online and become fully automated to protect it against severe disruption, such as what was experienced last year, in the future. This has been a critical priority for the Gauteng Gambling Board for several years already, and it has spent around R70-million so far in trying to achieve the goal.
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Last year was dedicated to developing software applications and solutions to increase automation in the industry. The focus for 2021 will be rolling out the new technology to local license holders, beginning with the physical casinos in Gauteng. Automation is key for the industry because it helps license holders operate more efficiently while also allowing regulators to keep a more precise and focused eye on what is happening around the sector.
There are big plans for the future of the industry in South Africa both online and in the real world, with Ngubeni regularly engaging with MEC for Economic Development in Gauteng Parks Tau. The most ambitious idea being bandied about is creating a local gambling hub built in or near Lanseria that would have a similar appeal to Las Vegas in America or Macau in China.
Lanseria is an exciting area with a ton of potential. The area began growing faster when the nearby airport opened a new runway and became an international airport after accepting flights from Air Namibia, Kenya Airways, Air Mauritius, and Air Botswana. This growth has resulted in proposals for a new mega smart city to be constructed in the area, which would serve as the perfect location for South Africa’s own Las Vegas.
