Responsible Gambling in South Africa

Betting is entertainment you pay for, in the same way you pay for a match ticket or a night out. It stays that way as long as the money you put in is money you decided to spend, and no more. This page is about what to do when it starts to feel like something else, where to get free help right now, and the limits and breaks that betting sites offer inside your account.

Free help, right now

Phone: the National Responsible Gambling Programme helpline is 0800 006 008. It is toll-free and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and trained counsellors answer it with free, confidential counselling and, where it is needed, a referral to treatment.
WhatsApp: send HELP to 076 675 0710, the wording licensed operators such as Easybet and Hollywoodbets give in their footers. The Programme says a menu then opens, where you press 1 to be referred and take a short self-check quiz before you chat to a counsellor.
Email: the National Gambling Board’s FAQ gives helpline@sargf.org.za for the helpline, and the Programme’s own website lists info@responsiblegambling.org.za.
Treatment: once the helpline or the WhatsApp service refers you, free treatment comes through the Programme’s national network of treatment professionals, and a person with a gambling problem seen as an outpatient gets 8 sessions, with the option of 2 more where the treatment professional recommends them. People affected by a relative’s gambling get their own sessions too.

The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation, which runs the Programme, describes its counselling and treatment as free and confidential.

Signs that it has stopped being entertainment

Chasing: putting more in to win back what you lost this week, or this afternoon.
Money that was for something else: rent, the taxi, school fees, airtime, food.
Borrowing to bet: from a friend, a loan shop, a credit card or an advance on wages.
Hiding it: deleting the app before someone sees it, lying about where the money went, betting at work or at 3am.
Mood: feeling wound up or low when you cannot bet, and betting to feel better rather than to enjoy the game.
Bigger stakes for the same feeling: R10 used to be enough and now it is R200.

Five of these six signs are on the National Responsible Gambling Programme’s own list of the common signs of a gambling problem, and if any of them sounds like you, call the number above.

The limits and breaks inside your betting account

Betfred, Sportingbet and Easybet each describe deposit limits on their own pages, and all four of the operators we read, Hollywoodbets included, give you a way to take a break or exclude yourself. The details differ from site to site, so set yours up before you need them.

Deposit limits: a cap on what you can put in. Sportingbet lets you set a daily, weekly or monthly limit, Easybet sets one per day, per 7 days or per 30 days, and once you confirm a limit at Betfred, its system blocks any deposit above it.
Time-out or cooling-off: a break during which your account is closed to you. Easybet lets you deactivate your account for 1 day, 7 days or 30 days and asks you to contact support for anything longer, and Hollywoodbets offers a cooling-off period of a couple of days, several weeks or several years, which cannot be lifted early when it is shorter than 30 days.
Self-exclusion: a longer block for a period you choose, which at Betfred is under Self Exclude My Account in the responsible gambling menu. When Hollywoodbets receives a request for permanent self-exclusion, its terms say it returns any money in the account and closes it.

Excluding yourself from more than one site

A cooling-off at one site does not block the others: Hollywoodbets’ terms say its cooling-off applies only to its own platform and does not stop you using other casinos or betting sites. For a wider block, the National Gambling Board’s FAQ says you can ask your operator or your provincial gambling board to exclude you, and your details are then circulated to all other licensed venues to stop you gambling there. Operators point you to the boards for this: Sportingbet asks you to email a self-exclusion form to the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board at selfexclusion@wcgrb.co.za, and Hollywoodbets asks you to email its form to the National Gambling Board at info@ngb.org.za, which keeps the national registers under the National Gambling Act.

If you later want an exclusion lifted, the Programme’s treatment page says you complete its treatment programme and then take the letter it gives you to the board or the operator that excluded you. The National Gambling Board’s FAQ also allows a third-party exclusion through the courts, where a person you depend on for money has a gambling problem.

Rules that keep it fun

Decide the amount before you open the app, and treat it as spent the moment you deposit.
Never bet with borrowed money, and never with money that has a job already.
Do not chase. A loss is the price of the entertainment, not a debt the next bet has to repay.
Do not bet after a drink, or when you are angry or upset. The Programme’s own tips say to avoid drinking while you gamble.
Keep the rest of life bigger than the betting. If the app is the first thing you open and the last thing you close, that is the sign.

If it is someone you love

The Foundation’s social workers counsel partners, children, the elderly and extended family members, and its treatment programme has sessions for people affected by a relative’s gambling. Practical things that help: do not lend money to cover gambling losses, do not cover the losses yourself, and keep the conversation about the money and the behaviour rather than about the person’s character. You cannot make someone stop, but you can stop the losses reaching you, and you can hand them the number.

The age limit is 18

The National Gambling Board says gambling is only legal if you are over 18, and licensed operators such as Betfred state that no one under 18 may gamble. FICA checks start before the first bet: Hollywoodbets’ terms say it must verify your identity before it can open an online betting account, and that no withdrawal is possible until that is done. If you know of a minor with an account, tell the operator and the provincial board. If you are under 18 yourself, this site is not for you.

What the odds mean over time

Every market on every betting site is priced so the operator keeps a margin. A slot’s return to player of 96% means that over millions of spins, R4 of every R100 stays with the house. A winning night does happen, but it is the exception, and the longer anyone plays, the closer their result gets to that margin. Bet only what you would happily lose.

Ideas that empty accounts

“I am due a win.” Nothing is due. The Programme’s warning signs page says each bet is an independent event, so the odds stay the same whatever happened before.
“This system beats the bookie.” If it did, the person selling it would not need to sell it.
“The predictor app knows the next Aviator crash.” No app can know it, for the same reason: each round is a separate bet, and one round’s result tells you nothing about the next.
“One big bet will fix everything.” It is the bet most likely to make everything worse.

Money that must never be gambled

Rent and bond payments, school fees, grocery money, a SASSA grant, anything borrowed and the taxi fare home should never go on a bet. If the only money you have is on that list, close the app and call 0800 006 008.

18+. Gambling can become addictive. National Responsible Gambling Programme, free helpline 0800 006 008, 24 hours a day, WhatsApp HELP to 076 675 0710. Winners know when to stop.