Guide to Online Gambling in South Africa

How long have you been sitting on the fence looking in at the wonderful world of online gambling? Don’t you wish that you could join in the fun and put yourself in line to win big jackpots? We’re here to help you navigate your first steps into online gambling in South Africa. Now there’s no need to feel like a helpless newbie. Start off this wonderful journey on the right foot with our concise, updated and easy-to-follow guide to online casino gambling in South Africa. Welcome to the party!

Let’s face it: Nobody was born knowing how to play casino games online. Even those who seem to be seasoned players have always got something new to discover. Laws change. Bonuses are updated. New casinos make our recommended list all the time.

Our gambling guide for beginners brings you all the information in a clearly laid out format so that, no matter where you happen to be on this journey, you will always find the help you need!

We’ll take you by the hand and teach you everything you need to know about online casinos, bonuses and promotions, and mobile gambling. We constantly update the information so that you can always rest assured that the content is correct!

Much thought and attention has gone into planning these guides. We remember what it was like when everything looked a little too overwhelming. We know exactly how to lead you through everything you’ll ever need to know about online gambling in South Africa. We’ll teach you how to play safely and securely. We’ll be here to answer any questions you may have, and we are confident that the information in our guides cover most of them.

Scroll down to check what each guide teaches you!

Our Beginner’s Guide to Online Gambling

We strongly suggest that you start with the Beginner’s Guide to Online Gambling, where the groundwork is laid for your gaming voyage. This is the framework on which you’ll build your knowledge and the guide covers everything that you need to know in simple, layman’s terms.

Our Guide to SA Gambling Law

Every country has its distinct legislation that governs its gambling industry, and South Africa is no exception. The Guide to South African Gambling Law outlines what is and isn’t acceptable and covers things from taxation to legal online casino gambling.

Our “Getting Started Guide”

Our Getting Started Guide is a practical handbook on how to find an online casino, how to go about registering, how to transfer funds to start real-money online gambling, how to withdraw your winnings and much more information.

Our Step-by-Step Guide to Retrieving a Lost Password

What do you do if you can’t remember your online casino password? Our Lost Password guide answers this question and others in the same vein to help you with all things technical.

Our Guide to Claiming a Free Bonus

Did you know that most online casinos offer you a free bonus with which you can try out the site and test-drive all that it offers? How do you go about claiming a free casino bonus or free casino slot spins? You’ll find all the answers in the How to Claim Free Bonus Guide.

Our Guide to Gambling on Mobile in South Africa

Most players around the world now access their favourite gaming sites on their mobile devices. Learn how to play at casinos using your smartphone or tablet through our Guide to Mobile Gambling. We’ll teach you how to pay for your mobile gambling entertainment and other things unique to one of the world’s fastest-growing industries.

Our Guide to Bitcoin & Gambling with Bitcoin!

In recent years, it has become more and more acceptable to pay for your gambling entertainment using alternative methods, including cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the most popular method currently available. Our Bitcoin Guide covers the ins and outs, the advantages and disadvantages of paying for online casino action via this method.

Stay Away from these Casinos: Our Guide to SA Blacklisted Casinos

The Blacklisted Casinos Guide provides you with an important list of online casinos that have received the thumbs down from us. They’re casinos that we wouldn’t recommend that you play at for multiple reasons. They could be scams, they could have a large percentage of unresolved pursuits, or they could be giving players the run-around when they ask to withdraw their funds. This is a good time to rely on our experience; it could save you a major headache in the future. There are far too many great online casinos for you to have to waste your time and money at blacklisted casinos.

As much as we’d like to believe it, South Africa is not the centre of the universe. While we have some super online casino options as local players, we mustn’t forget that some of our readers live outside of the borders. Thankfully, our team is well acquainted with online gambling in other countries, especially on the African continent.

Within the fast-growing multi-trillion-dollar online gambling industry, Africa is considered one of the most exciting players at the table. Betting online is a national pastime in many countries, and gambling options are becoming more and more available – online and off.

Our guides below cover online gambling by country. South Africa obviously gets its place of honour, but you will also find guides for Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Mauritius and Namibia. You’ll find useful information such as gambling laws, banking options, the best online casinos and growing trends. We will keep these guides updated, and we will continue to add more countries for our esteemed readers!

Local lotteries in South Africa are operated by the Ithuba National Lottery. There are several types of lotteries offered that have different rules and draw dates. Some of the lotteries are based on luck more than others, for instance, lotteries where in order to win, you have to guess a selection of numbers for the draw, and depending on the number of correct guesses, you can win monetary prizes that range from the hundreds to the thousands and more! Other lotteries are more based on skill and expertise, for instance, the Sportsake lotteries, where if you are a sports fan and know a thing or two about sports, you can try and predict who the winning team will be!

Whichever lottery you are interested in, don’t worry, we got you covered with our easy-to-use, in-depth guides on all the SA lotteries below:

The number one way to get the most out of your gambling bankroll is to take advantage of online casino bonuses. These are financial perks offered by the online casino to increase the sum of money you have put aside to play at the site.

One look at the hundreds of different online casino bonuses available out there, and we won’t blame you for feeling a little overwhelmed. Never fear! By the time you finish exploring our Online Casino Bonus Guides, you’ll know why a deposit bonus is also known as a new player bonus, a match bonus or a welcome offer. You’ll understand everything there is to know about bonus terms and conditions; about wagering conditions and about other legalities that affect the offer.

Online casino bonuses have lots of advantages:

• They boost your bankroll
• They allow you to explore the online casino without spending your own money
• They help introduce you to exciting new games
• They offer you free spins on new and popular online slots
• They extend your time at the online casino and thus increase your chance of hitting the jackpot.

If you walk into a land-based casino such as MonteCasino or Sun City, the chances are that you’ll try your luck on a couple of games and stick with those for most of your time there. The beauty of online gambling is that you have a much wider range of choice. As such, you’ll be able to try all the games on offer and pick your favourites from a more diverse group.

Even if you’ve never heard of a game, you should try it out with the help of our online casino game guides. You’ll find a host of guides for all the popular and lesser known online casino games, including online blackjack, online slots, online roulette, online craps, online baccarat and more.

Learn to find games that appeal to your skills, tastes, and abilities. Step out of your comfort zone and play games that once sounded exotic and complicated. We’ll tell you how to play the online casino games for free so that you can hone your skills, perfect your strategy and learn to play like a pro.

Our Game Guides cover:

• Game rules
• How to play
• Game strategies for all playing levels
• Game tips
• Free online casino games
• Where to play online casino games

We hope that you understand by now that there are major advantages of online gambling. You probably don’t need much more convincing if you’re already here. We can only tell you that, by reading our great guides, your journey will be much smoother and more enjoyable in the long run.

Nevertheless, here is a reminder of the advantages of online gambling:

1. Convenience

It’s an amazing thing when you know that you switch on your computer or flip open your smartphone every time that you feel like a spin on the slot machine or a hand of blackjack. The simple convenience factor of online gambling is life changing. There’s no driving great distances, no struggling to find parking, no having to fork out thousands of Rands for a hotel stay.

Change the way you think about gambling thanks to this instant-access feature. Suddenly, it’s not a pastime that’s only reserved for weekends or special occasions. You can literally play whenever, wherever and whatever you want within seconds!

2. Security

The best online casinos – and certainly those that we recommend – use top-grade online encryption security to ensure that your financial and privacy data remains safe and secure at all times. Online casinos take this aspect of their operations very seriously because they have an industry reputation to protect. Especially in this period when information travels at lightning speed, serious and reputable online casinos don’t want to take the tiniest of risks that their sites get a bad name for shady dealings.

Even more relevant to South African players is the fact that online casinos can claim to be much safer than land-based casinos. All financial transactions are played out between the online casino and the bank and there is no cash involved.

How safe would you feel with thousands in your pocket that you’ve just won at the roulette tables at your local casino? Wouldn’t you be scared that you’re being followed home? Remove all security issues by playing at safe, licensed and reputable South African online casinos. You can relax knowing that your winnings will be transferred safely and seamlessly to your bank account.

3. Variety

Online casinos need to keep their content fresh and interesting so that players will come back to their platforms to play. Because of that, you can always look forward to brand new games on a monthly basis. Online casinos work hard to make sure that their portfolios encompass the hottest new titles by industry-leading software providers, together with classic favourites.

You’ll also find a wide variety of game types. The choice is almost mind-boggling with so many different types of casino games to choose from. Feel like spinning the reels of a top branded slot game? Honing your skills on the blackjack table? Betting on the roulette wheel? Enjoying the speed and excitement of keno? You can do all that and more at online casinos.

4. Things You Can Say Goodbye To

When you play at online casinos, there are certain things you can happily bid adieu to:

• The need to dress up. Are you in your PJs but itching to play blackjack? Flip open your laptop, snuggle down in bed and play away.
• Cigarette smoke. If you’re a non-smoker, it may be hard to escape the smell of cigarettes at the land-casino, even if you stick to non-smoking floors. By playing at online casinos, you get to control your own environment.
• Unessential spending. A visit to a land-casino is a guaranteed wallet-drainer. Before even spending a cent on the slot machines, you have added expenses such as food, drink, parking, petrol and sometimes hotel accommodation. When you play online, everything you spend is on gambling and nothing else.
• Lack of confidence. Online casinos give you the opportunity to play games for free so that you familiarize yourself with the rules and features. You can practice in play-for-fun mode and build up your confidence ahead of real-money play. This isn’t a luxury you’ll enjoy when you play at land-based casinos.
• Crowds. No more pushing your way to the front of the roulette table or waiting for hours to get a seat in front of a slot machine. Online casino games are always available in an instant, 24/7.