South Africa’s fast-expanding online gambling industry has come under renewed fire this week as the National Gambling Board (NGB) revealed plans to clamp down on influencer-led betting ads, while Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers urged government to ban all online gambling advertising outright, warning that the sector is draining billions from the real economy.
The two developments — one regulatory, one corporate — reflect a growing consensus that South Africa’s gambling boom has become socially and economically unsustainable, with youth exposure, addiction, and household debt now sparking alarm across both business and policy circles.
Regulator cracks down on influencer marketing
The National Gambling Board is finalising proposals to restrict gambling promotions that target or reach underage audiences, especially on social media. Acting CEO Lungile Dukwana said the regulator’s top priority is to stop gambling operators from using influencers whose audiences consist mainly of young people.
“One of the issues is to stop using, for example, the issue of influencers whose target is normally younger people in terms of their advertising. I think that’s number one,” Dukwana said.
Under the planned framework, ads would be restricted during hours when minors are most likely to be online or watching television. Operators would also be barred from promoting betting outside the regions where their licences apply — meaning a bookmaker licensed in Mpumalanga, for example, cannot advertise nationally.
The reforms come amid a 25.7% year-on-year rise in online gross gaming revenue to R59.3 billion ($3.1 billion) in 2023/24. The NGB said the convenience of mobile betting in South Africa has pulled in younger and lower-income users, prompting partnerships with universities and technical colleges to run education and awareness campaigns.
Youth exposure and social harm
Officials say influencer content has become one of the biggest gateways into gambling for young South Africans. One high-profile case cited by the NGB involved an 18-year-old student who lost R150,000 ($7,350) after following online personalities who portrayed betting as “easy and fun.”
Joint studies by the NGB and academic partners found that 13% of respondents reported gambling-related problems within their households. The regulator argues that much of the harm stems from aspirational online messaging that normalises betting as a lifestyle rather than a high-risk activity.
To curb this, the NGB is working with the Advertising Regulatory Board and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to tighten enforcement and block unlicensed offshore operators. So far, 23 of 90 identified illegal sites have been shut down — though officials admit that many reappear under new IP addresses.
Dukwana said the NGB would propose amendments to Section 11 of the National Gambling Act to strengthen digital enforcement and close loopholes that allow illegal ads to proliferate.
“Gambling is sucking the economy dry,” warns Pick n Pay CEO
As regulators focus on content and compliance, one of country’s biggest retailers has called for far stronger measures — starting with a total advertising ban on online casinos in South Africa.
Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers told investors this week that the country’s gambling industry is “totally out of control,” estimating that R1.5 trillion ($78 billion) flows through betting channels annually — money that might otherwise be spent on essentials like food and clothing.
“Somewhere north of R70 billion ($3.6 billion) is being taken out of the market by the gambling industry,” Summers said. “That is almost Pick n Pay’s total first-half revenue taken out by a few people in profit in a highly constrained market.”
He warned that the rise in betting is directly hurting retailers as consumer spending shifts away from groceries to gambling, with an estimated 20% of social grant payments — over R50 billion ($2.6 billion) — now being spent on betting.
“Smoking was a cancer and they banned all marketing; I think we need to give serious consideration to a similar move,” Summers said, comparing gambling’s social harm to tobacco.
Economic and ethical fault lines
The timing of Summers’ comments underscores a growing tension between economic survival and social responsibility. Pick n Pay is in the midst of a challenging turnaround, having posted a headline loss of R439 million ($22.7 million) for the first half of 2025, despite a 273% improvement in trading profit to R310 million ($16 million).
Summers said that with the economy growing below 1% and food inflation easing, retailers can no longer rely on price hikes. But he warned that even if inflation falls to 1%, “it won’t matter if consumers spend their extra money on gambling instead of groceries.”
Policy direction: from warnings to action
The NGB’s planned restrictions and Summers’ call for an advertising ban mark a turning point in South Africa’s approach to online betting. While the industry remains a major employer and tax contributor, its social costs — particularly youth gambling and household indebtedness — are increasingly dominating the national debate.
The regulator’s proposals will be submitted to the National Gambling Policy Committee later this month. If approved, new advertising standards and licensing enforcement powers could be rolled out in early 2026.
For now, the message from both government and business is clear: the era of unrestrained online gambling promotion may be coming to an end.
