The 2024 Legal Guide to Gambling in South Africa
what laws apply, how it has changed over the years, specific legislation, etc.
The year was 2024. Internet gambling had taken the world by storm as more and more online casinos popped up on the Web, wowing players with perks like amazing bonuses and convenience like they’d never experienced before at land-based casinos. Gamblers in RSA, used to being able to freely play on their favourite real money slot machine at land-based casinos, also got in on the online gambling action. However, that was about the time when government decided that South Africans shouldn’t have the choice of being able to play and win money online. Fast-forward to 2024 and unfortunately not much has changed on that front.
But what exactly is the situation in SA today when it comes to playing at an online slot machine for real money? For a better understanding, take a look at our online slot machine legal guide to gambling in South Africa. Here we’ll answer questions like
- How online gambling legislation has changed over the years
- What laws apply in SA today
- If there’s any specific legislation you need to know about
- And where you can find the best sites that accept Rand
How gambling legislation has changed over the years
Before we continue looking at the current real money slots legal guide for South Africa, let’s take a quick look at how gambling legislation has changed over the years. The very first Gambling Act in South Africa came into effect in 1965, and since the internet didn’t even exist yet, only covered land-based casinos. The Act remained largely unchanged until 2024, at which stage the local government decided that South Africans shouldn’t have the choice of being able to play on an online slot machine for real money.
Seven years later, the Gambling Act was amended to include a stipulation that no operators were allowed to offer online slot machine real money services to South African citizens. Since then there have been a couple of attempts to introduce new legislation that would make playing online slots for real money legal, but to date no changes have been accepted. And this is why we’ve had to put together a legal guide for online slots.
What laws apply in SA today?
To date it’s still not technically legal to play online real money slot machine games in South Africa. And while this might seem like a disaster for those who love playing online slots for real money, that’s exactly why we’ve created this slots online legal guide, to present you with the facts and then put your mind at ease.
One of the most important things that we’d like to reiterate in this slot machine legal guide is that while it is unlawful for South African players to sign up for a slot machine real money account, the law places most of the responsibility on the operators to not accept SA players. This really places the risk squarely on the operators and not the individual players. And when you think about it, it wouldn’t make sense or be in the best interests of the SA government to use its resources to go after players one by one.
Slots Online Legal Guide Cheat Sheet
Q: Can South Africans safely play online without fear of prosecution?
A: Yes. While the Gambling Act prohibits online gambling within SA’s borders, the reality is that with almost 29% of the nation enjoying some form of gambling, there is no reason why the government should single you out.
Is there any specific legislation that you need to know about?
We wouldn’t be a trustworthy online slots legal guide if we didn’t reiterate that there is legislation against playing online in SA. However, we also need to point out that to our best knowledge, to date not one individual player has been singled out or had legal action taken against them. So if you take only one thing from this legal guide for slot machine play, it’s that if you make sure to play at a trusted and regulated online casino, then there is no reason to worry.
We’ve identified the top trusted and regulated sites for SA players
Another reason why it’s handy to have a legal guide for online slots close by is because we’ve used our authority as a slots legal guide to access and identify which online sites are suited for South African players. Each one of these sites have been carefully tested and tried, so we can confidently state that by accessing our legal guide online slots, choose from the casinos listed on our site, you are sure to have a great online gaming experience.