Betting to survive: How online gambling is quietly draining South African households

There was a time when placing a bet meant dressing up for the races or slipping coins into a slot machine at a casino on a Friday night.

Now it happens in bed. In taxis. In office bathrooms during lunch breaks.

All it takes is a smartphone and hope.

And in 2025, hope has become one of South Africa’s most expensive commodities.

A trillion-rand habit

According to figures from the National Gambling Board, the total value of bets placed in the 2024/2025 financial year reached roughly R1.5 trillion a staggering 31% jump from the previous year.

Let that sink in.

That’s not casino tourism money. That’s everyday South Africans tapping “place bet” on their phones.

Online platforms now account for 60.5% of all gross gambling revenue across provinces. In just five years, the digital gambling landscape has transformed from niche to dominant.

Fuelled by aggressive advertising, gamified apps and widespread smartphone access, betting has become as easy as ordering takeaways.

But unlike takeaways, this habit doesn’t just disappear when the money runs out.

The “betting to break even” trap

Kevin Hurwitz, CEO of FASTA, says what he’s seeing in short-term credit data is alarming.

From his vantage point in the credit industry, gambling is no longer casual entertainment. It has become, in his words, a mainstream economic crisis.

FASTA’s internal data shows average net gambling outflows among customers were about R50 per month before October 2023. By October 2025, that figure had ballooned to around R800 per month.

On paper, R800 might not sound catastrophic.

But here’s the reality: that’s R800 less in disposable income every single month. In lending terms, that recurring expense could shrink a qualifying home loan by more than R100,000.

In a country where property ownership is already out of reach for many young families, that’s not a small dent it’s a closed door.

Gambling to pay debt

Perhaps the most sobering statistic comes from the Old Mutual Savings and Investment Monitor survey.

Thirty-six percent of respondents who gamble said they do so to pay off debt or cover monthly expenses. Among those earning between R8,000 and R15,000 a month, that figure rises to 41%.

That’s not entertainment.

That’s desperation.

And according to 2025 findings from Statistics South Africa, some distressed households are spending up to 55% of their gross disposable income on online betting, often reframing it as “entertainment.”

On social media, reactions are increasingly divided. Some users defend betting as a personal choice. Others share stories of salaries vanishing within days, leaving rent unpaid and grocery cupboards empty.

The cultural shift is subtle but profound: gambling has morphed into a survival strategy for households squeezed by inflation.

Credit cards and the illusion of control

Banks are noticing the pattern too.

Absa reports that online gambling’s share of total credit card spend jumped from 26% in 2022 to 58% in 2024.

Credit cards, not spare cash are becoming the preferred method of funding bets.

That matters.

When gambling moves from discretionary income to borrowed money, the risk multiplies. Interest compounds. Minimum payments stretch losses over months.

What begins as a R200 weekly bet becomes a cycle of repayment that eats into future earnings.

Treasury steps in, but is tax the answer?

The surge has caught the attention of National Treasury, which released a draft national online gambling tax discussion paper in November 2025.

The proposal? A 20% online gambling tax aimed at reducing addiction risks and social harm.

Critics argue that taxation alone may not address the deeper issue. If gambling is increasingly driven by economic distress, raising costs might not deter those who feel they have no other option.

Hurwitz has gone further, calling for a far more decisive stance even suggesting a ban on gambling altogether.

That’s a bold proposal in a country where the industry contributes nearly R6 billion in tax revenue and supports direct and indirect jobs.

But the counterargument is gaining traction: at what social cost?

The cost of living squeeze

Nearly 74% of FASTA’s 7,700 surveyed credit-active consumers say their monthly cost of living is higher than a year ago. Almost a third describe it as “significantly higher.”

Wages, meanwhile, haven’t kept pace with inflation.

In that gap between income and expense, gambling platforms step in with flashing odds and stories of overnight millionaires.

Aggressive advertising rarely highlights the statistical improbability of winning big. Instead, it sells aspiration cars, houses, freedom.

And for someone staring at unpaid bills, that promise can feel rational.

A national conversation we’re avoiding

When Cyril Ramaphosa delivered SONA 2026, he spoke of economic recovery, job creation and easing the cost of living.

But beneath those big policy goals lies a quieter crisis: disposable income is leaking out of households at record speed.

If access to credit is meant to build wealth enabling home ownership, entrepreneurship and asset creation then rising gambling losses directly undermine that pathway.

The uncomfortable truth is this: online gambling is thriving not because South Africans are reckless, but because many are financially cornered.

More than a moral debate

This is not simply a question of personal responsibility versus regulation.

It’s about economic fragility.

When nearly half of lower-income earners gamble to cover expenses, we are no longer talking about leisure. We are talking about a coping mechanism in a high-inflation economy.

Tax may help. Stricter regulation may help. Advertising limits may help.

But unless household incomes stabilise and real economic mobility improves, the allure of “one big win” will remain powerful.

And in living rooms across South Africa, the quiet tap of a betting app will continue not for fun, but for survival.

{Source: IOL}

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